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PRACTICAL VIEW 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 



EARLIEST STAGES. 



/ 

BY T. BABINGTON5 ESq. 

MEMBER OF THE BRITISH TAR LIA-MEN'J . 



Third American from the third London Edition* 



TO WHICH ARE ADDED 



TRANSLATIONS OF THE LATIN SENTENCES, 



AND NOTES. 



BOSTON: 

PUJILTSIIED BY CUMMINGS AND HILLIVRD, 

BOSTON BOOKSTORE, SO. 1 CORNHILL. 




I'n'sv. rro5s....Hilliard & Metcalf, 



-> 



,v 






DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT : 

District Clerk'^s Office, 
BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twentieth day of April, A. D. 1818, 
aind in the forty second year of the Independence of the Unwed States of America, 
Cummings & Hilliard of the said District have deposited in this office the title of a 
Book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, viz. 

** A Practical View of Christian Education in its earliest stages. By T. Babing- 
ton, Esq. Member of the British Parliament. First American from the third London 
Edition ; to which are added. Translations of the Latin sentences and notes," 

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, ** An 
Act for the encouragement of learning by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and 
Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies, during the times therein 
mentioned ;" and also to an Act, entitled, " An act supplementary to an Act, en- 
titled, an Act for the encouragement of learning", by securing the copies of Maps, 
. Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies, during the 
times therein mentioned ; and extending the benefits thereof to the Arts of De- 
signing, Engraving and Etching Historical and other Prints." 

JNO. W. DAVIS, 

Ckrk of the District of Massachusetts, 



PREFACE 

FO THE FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. 



The following work, though it has hitherto 
appeared without the author*s name, is well 
known to be the production of a Member of the 
British Parliament, who, to the speculations of 
a correct mind, appears to have added the re- 
sult of sound experience. Having been sue 
cessful in the education and government of a 
numerous family of children, till they became 
heads of families themselves, at their request, 
and for their benefit especially, he prepared this 
View of Christian Education. The work, af- 
ter coming under the public eye, met with so 
favourable a reception, that within a short pe- 
riod it passed through three editions. The 
writer of this article, having access to a copy 
of it through the kindness of a friend, has care- 
fully perused it, and is free to say, that, with 
merited reproof, he has also experienced in- 
struction and delight. He views the noble 
author as laying for the foundation of his super- ^ 



IV 

strueture those excellent principles, which will 
bear the test of that awfully interesting day^ 
when every man^s work must be tried by the 
fire of eternal truth. Upon this foundation he 
appears to have built wisely and discreetly; 
and his rules, though somewhat general, yet if 
as faithfully reduced to practice, as they are 
valuable in their tendency, it is believed, would 
greatly ameliorate the condition of many a fam- 
ily. It will be perceived by the attentive rea- 
der, that the author is a member of the Episco- 
pal Church ; but the unprejudiced mind will 
always be delighted with the pure waters of 
truth, whether derived from an artificial fountain 
or from a natural spring. A leading excel- 
lency of the following work is, that all along it 
appears to have the future, eternal well-being 
of the child in view, in its education, no less 
than in its temporal usefulness and happiness. 
To the attainment of these ends we are guided 
!)y instructions, which accord with the true 
.spirit of the holy Scriptures. 

What is said upon the subject of rewards 
and punishments, is worthy to be repeatedly 



V 

read^ and with close attention. Some, perhaps^ 
will object to what is said upon the subject of 
emulation. The word, emulation^ has been so 
much used to signify a virtuous principle, or at 
least a principle generally esteemed virtuous, 
that many may be startled to hear the author 
dissuade parents from encouraging it in their 
children. Bat even what he says upon this 
principle, if carefully examined, will be found 
to be very just. By emulation he means that 
selfish principle, by which we are stimulated to 
excel others for the name of excelling ; and not 
that principle, through which we are animated 
by the example of others to do as well as pos- 
sible, that we may be the more useful. Under 
the influence of the former principle, if we sur- 
pass our competitors, we triumph at their ex- 
pense ; and if we are surpassed, we envy them ; 
such a principle ought to be discouraged. Un- 
der the influence of the latter, though animated 
to do our best, we shall even rejoice, if others 
do better. 

Though the writer of this is by no means 
pleased with the practice of taking great liber- 



vi 

tics with the works of others^ he thinks a very 
few verbal alterations might be admitted with 
advantage. 

For the sake of the unlearned reader, and 
to render the work more extensively useful, a 
few Latin sentences in it are, in this edition, 
accompanied with a free translation. 

It may be seen, that the following pages 
are adapted especially to the use of those 
families, which move in the higher circles of 
life; but they contain much, that may be in- 
teresting and useful to those in humble stations. 

With these brief remarks the work is pre- 
sented to the American public, with a desire 
that it may receive a patronage in some good 
measure proportioned to its intrinsic value. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Chap. I.— Inadequate Attention to religion in edu- 
cation, — Some of its causes .... 9 

Chap. If. — The Period from early Infancy to the 
Learning to Read. — Faulty Course commonly 
pursued.— A very early Attention to Tempers 
and Habits recommended. — Religion how to 
be instilled. — Parental Example ... 24 

Chap. III. — General Observations. — Parents to guard 
against their Faults in the Presence of their 
Children. — Children not to be made Playthings^ 
— The Child's Good, and not the parent's Ease, 
to be the Object. — The Heart to be had in view 
rather than the outward Act. — Guard against a 
Child's Artifices. — Study Consistency of Sys- 
tem.— -Intercourse with your Children. — Free- 
dom of Conversation. — Study of Character. — 
Personal Exertion in Education ... 36 

Chap. IV. — The Period between a Child's beginning to 
read and going to school ; its Importance— The 
Objects of Education, and their relative Value. 
—Commencement of Instruction in Reading. — 
Rousseau : — Education a Discipline. — Choice 
of Books. — Tones and Articulations. Care in 
the Use of religious Books : — Selection of them. 
— Catechisns 5H 

Chap. V, — Mechanical Reading : — how obviated.— 
School Lessons to promote Moral Qualities : 



YlU 

Obedience : Regularity : Attention : Patience : 

Alacrity,— Happy Fiuits of these Qualities 

Failures, to be expected. — How to be borne . 87 
Chap. VI.— Means for the support of Parental Author- 
ity and Influence. — Rewards and Punishments 101 
Chap. TIL — Example. — Emulation. — Effect of Per- 
sonal Character of Parents. — Deceit . .119 
Chap. Vlli. — Attention to Children when not at their 
Lessons. — Amusements. — Behaviour of Child- 
ren to each other. — Quarrels. — A domineering 
or a teasing Spirit.^ — Selfishness and Jealousy. — 
Conduct of the two Sexes to each other— -Do' 
mestic Effects in well and ill educated Fami- 
lies contrasted .—Acquaintance — Familiarity 

with Servants . ]S5 

Chap. IX. — Hardihood. — Moderate Habits — Artificial 
Hardships — Moderation favourable to Elevation 
of Character.— Rules; — ^Preparation for Prayer. 
— Self-examination.— Prayer — How long Boys 
should be kept under domestic Education.— 
Preparation for School.— Governesses . .155 

Appendix.— No. I ,172 

No. 11, . 184 



PRACTICAL VIEW, 



i'c. <lx. 



CHAP. I. 



Inadequate Attention to Religion in Education — Some of 
its Causes. 

jVjost persons have occasionally met with a new 
mansion, showy in its appearance, anrt commanding a 
fine prospect, but destit^jte of that first of all requisites, 
good water. Captivated by the beauties of a favourite 
spot, and anticipating a long and liappy residence in 
the midst of attractive domains, the gentlemen who 
build houses sometimes forget that there are certain 
necessaries of life, for the want of which none of its em- 
bellishments or honors can compensate. A similar dis- 
appointment, but of a more affecting nature, very fre- 
quently awaits the builders of that figurative house — a 
family of children. Their parents have taken the 
greatest pains to enable them to make a figure in the 
world ; but they have neglected to use the proper 
means for furnishing their minds with certain items in 
2 



10 

the catalogue of qualifications for a useful^^ respectable, 
and happy life — namely, religious principles and hab- 
its. The house is erected ; but, alas, there is no wa- 
ter ! That those who despise religion should not wish 
the minds of their children to be imbued with it, is nat- 
ural and to be expected ; — and that those, who, while 
they ostensibly acknowledge the value of religion, yet 
hold that the heart of man is naturally good ; and that 
the evils which abound in the world may be ascribed 
to the prejudices of nurses, the reveries of enthusiasts, 
the craft of priests, and the tyranny of rulers ; should 
deem religious education almost superfluous, is by no 
means surprising. However, such characters would 
.slight all my admonitions, and therefore it is in vain 
to address them. Those whose attention I would soli- 
cit are decent and respectable parents, who wish to en* 
tertain those views of human nature, and of the duties 
of man, which the holy Scriptures exhibit. That such 
persons should venture to hope that their children will 
perform, in subsequent life, the duties they owe to God 
and their fellow-creatures, when little eare has been 
taken to prepare them for this great work, is perfective 
astonishing. Do we form such absurd expectations in 
other things ? Does any man suppose that his son will 
be fit for any profession, or business, without substan- 
tial and persevering instruction ? Does he venture 
to send him out into the world as a lawyer, a surgeon, 
or a tradesman, without a long preparation, expressly 
calculated to qualify him for the line of life to which he 
is destined ? And yet how many fathers expect their 
children to maintain the character of Christians, with 



11 

very little appropriate education to lead them to con- 
quer, through divine grace, their natural alienation from 
God, and to become new creatures under Christ their 
Saviour ! God does not treat man in this manner, hut 
furnishes him, in the Scriptures, with the most august 
and persuasive teachers, and the greatest variety of 
instruction and exhortatioi], calculated to turn him 
from darkness to light, and induce him to crucify the 
flesh with its aflcctions and lusts. But man, deaf to 
the divine voice, which says, '' Go and do thou like- 
wise ;'' and deaf also to the call even of parental af- 
fection, not seldom suffers the early years of his off- 
spring to pa§s without any systematic and adequate 
plan of instruction and discipline expressly calculated 
for the attainment of those great ends. 

But let us view this subject a little more narrowly. 
Is a son intended for a learned profession ? He is 
sent to school. The father is earnest that the master 
sliould ground Iiim well in grammar, give him a taste 
for classical literature, and call forth his powers in 
composition. Afterwards, when the youth is removed 
to the university, a college and tutor are selected with 
anxious care to promote his intellectual improvement. 
An earnest solicitude is felt that he should become a 
sound and elegant scholar ; and inquiring friends are 
told what progress he makes in his literary pursuits. — 
Again : suppose that a more humble walk in life is 
chosen by the parent, and that his boy is to be a 
tradesman : with what care does he select a master who 
perfectly understands his business, and will be likely 
to make the boy thoroughly acquainted with it. And as 



the years of apprenticesliip draw towards their close, 
he is solicitous that his son should be instructed in all 
the higher parts of the trade, that he may be in no res- 
pect deficient, when he becomes his own master, and is 
to establish himself in life. Let any one who allows 
these to be just pictures of parental care in providing 
for the worldly interests of children, say how seldom 
their spiritual interests are the object of equal solicitude* 
Are masters chosen with the same care for the promo- 
tion of these interests ? In fixing on schools and colle- 
ges for boys destined to the higher professions, and 
on masters and counting houses for those who are to 
move in a more humble line, is it a matter of prime 
consideration to select those which are known to be fa- 
vourable to true religion ? During education, is the 
progress of the boy in religion watched with unremit- 
ting solicitude, and promoted by all those measures 
which solicitude suggests ? Are pains anxiously taken 
to remove all the obstacles in the way ? And finally, 
is the boy himself removed (when that is possible) to a 
more favourable situation, if those obstacles are such 
as essentially to counteract his advancement in religious 
attainments ? In most cases, I fear, even where better 
things might be hoped, these questions must be answer- 
ed in the negative. The efforts made in favour of the 
religious improvement of youth are partial and unsys- 
tematic, and generally cold and languid. But, even 
when accompanied by a considerable degree of ear- 
nestness, they very seldom evince a care and thought 
at all proportioned to the greatness of the object. An 
attention to the externals of religion is enforced, and 



13 

glaring sins are forbidden and punished ; and perliap5$ 
also the leading principles of the Gospel are occasion- 
ally inculcated ; — but are the temper, the taste, and the 
habits narrowly watched? Is evil counteracted, not 
only in its commencement, but even before it ap- 
pears, by guarding against dispositions and practices, 
which, though not wrong in themselves, are dangerous 
from their natural alliance with those which arc so ? 
Are the dawnings of good early descried and carefully 
cherished. Above all, is the youthful mind continual- 
ly taught to raise itself to the only source of safety 
and strength ; to be diligent in self-examination, pen- 
itence, prayer, and praise ? I fear it can seldom be 
said that a plan of this kind is followed earnestly, as- 
siduously, and, with due allowance for casual inter- 
ruptions, daily from youth to manhood. And yet 
earnestly, assiduously, and daily, is the child taught his 
reading and spelling ; the schoolboy his grammar and 
classics ; the academician his Euclid, Locke, and New- 
ton ; and the clerk or apprentice his master's business. 
Can we consult our experience on these points without 
exclaiming— What prudent care in human things ! 
What negligence in divine ! The result of such negli- 
gence may easily be anticipated, and is lamentibly ap- 
parent in the character and habits of our young men. 
Is this negligence to be accouttted for from any pe- 
culiar facility with which Christian trutlis are ii*ibed, 
and Christian habits formed ? Is the path of t\'i\e re- 
ligion so easily discovered, and so inviting, that the 
young scarcely want a monitor to point it out and re- 
commend it to their choice ; wliile (hat of human sci- 



14 

ence is thoriry, and arduous, and disgusting, and never 
willingly chosen ? Let the word of God and human 
experience answer. In fact, truth requires that this 
picture should be almost reversed. Religion is that which 
is, beyond all things, repulsive to the nature of man ; 
while human science has many charms for him, and 
meets with little opposition from his native propensi- 
ties. In inculcating religion we are rolling a stone up 
hill, which must be watched every moment, or it will 
soon bound down again ; nor can we hope to make 
any progress in our work without continued and pain- 
ful efforts. 

To those who acknowledge the natural propensity of 
man to evil, and yet take so little pains to correct it in 
his education, I cannot refrain from addressing a few 

expostulations. Do you act in a similar manner 

with respect to any corporeal deformity to which your 
children may be subject ? Do you not take the best 
medical advice, and persevere, perhaps for many years, 
and at a great expense, and with very serious incon- 
veniences both to yourselves and your child, in the use 
of such means as may be recommended to you for his 
recovery ? And yet the evil you labour to correct prob- 
ably affects only one part of his frame ; or the efforts of 
unassisted nature may remove it ; and even if he should 
carry it with him to his grave, it may not be fatal to 
his present welfare, much less to his future happiness. 
But the disease to which his soul is subject is universal, 
pervading all its faculties and dispositions. Nature, 
instead of affording a remedy, is its source, and, if not 
counteracted, will infallibly render it more and more 



15 

desperate; and the evils it threatens are of infinite mag- 
nitude, and of eternal duration. What, then, can you 
think of your negligence ? Are you not niost cruelly 
deficient in your care of your offspring ? And how will 
you render an account to that Being who has given 
you the sacred charge to act as his vicegerents in their 
education ? 

The causes of those lamentable and very general 
defects in religious education which liave been noticed 
are various. At present I will mention only two or 
three of tliem. 

When parents, though they may have a great res- 
pect for religion, are not truly religious, there is no 
difficulty in accounting for their lukewarmness in pro- 
viding for the religious education of their children. If 
they do not conside)' Christianity as the pearl of great 
price ; if in practice they make it rather the handmaid 
of their worldly interests and pleasures, than the unri- 
valled empress of their hearts, and the sovereign guide 
of their actions ; if this is practically the estimation in 
which tliey hold it, of course, they will give it but a 
second, a third, or a fourth place among the objects on 
which their view is fixed in the education of their chil- 
dren. If, in their passage through life, they do not in 
fact (whatever they may hold in theory) sacrifice their 
own profit, or pleasure, or reputation, at the shrine of 
Religion, when these cannot be secured without some 
dereliction of duty, it must be expected that, whatever 
they may profess as to their plans of education, they 
will in fact attend more to the worldly advancement, or 
pleasure, or reputation of their children, than to their 



16 

progress in vital Christianity. As such parents, how- 
ever^ frequently lament in themselves defects which 
they have not a heart to remedy ^ let them be asked 
whether they would willingly see their offspring in the 
same state of thraldom, pursuing a course which they 
disapprove, and breathing fruitless wishes after that 
holiness which they have not the courage to practise. 
If their minds revolt at this prospect, let them en- 
deavour, in their choice of masters and instructors, to 
rescue their childreji at least from the evils which press 
upon themselves. They may think it impracticable in 
their own case, (though in truth if they undertook the 
work in a right spirit, they would conquer every diffi- 
cidty by the all-powerful aid of divine grace,) to break 
through inveterate habits, and to brave, amidst a cir- 
cle of acquaintance like themselves, the looks, the lan- 
guage, the demeanour, to which a prompt and univer- 
sal obedience to the calls of duty would expose them. 
But let them have pity on their offspring ; and put 
them in a course which, with God's blessing, may pre- 
serve them from the galling fetters which bind their 
parents. 

There are certain classes of upright Christians, (and 
I solicit their attention with far belter hope,) whose ef- 
forts in the great work of Christian Education are 
feeble, from causes of a very different kind. Two of 
these causes, which arise immediately out of their reli- 
gious principles, I will now mention. 

Some parents, of a truly christian character, are of 
opinion, that although the instruction of the head is in 
a good measure left to man^ God vindicates to himself 



17 

in a peculiar manner the empire of tlie heart, and car- 
ries on his own work of conversion in his own way. 
They therefore regard human endeavours to lead the 
hearts of the young to God as (to say the least) of very 
doubtful efficacy ; and perhaps look with some jealousy 
on a vciy sedulous use of means, for the attainment of 
this object, as indicative of a disposition to depend on 
means, rather than on the power and mercy of God. 
They hope, that if they preserve their children, as far 
as may be, from the contamination of the world, make 
them well acquainted with the christian doctrine, and 
use them to a regular attendance on religious ordinan- 
ces, He will hear the earnest prayers offered up for 
them, and in His good time work on their affections 
and bring them to himself. These sentiments, in 
which there is a specious mixture of truth and error, 
are accompanied by christian graces and habits which 
have a powerful tendency to counteract their practical 
effects. Parents who are wanting in sedulous atten- 
tion to their children, are often very strict in the ex- 
amination of themselves, and eminent for tenderness of 
conscience, for hatred of sin, for love of holiness, and 
for adorning the Gospel of their Saviour, by present- 
ing in themselves no dubious image of that mind which 
shone forth in him. By an attentive observer, how- 
ever, well acquainted with the interior of their fami- 
lies, the operation of the foregoing opinions will not 
unfrequently be distinctly traced : and in whatever de- 
gree they operate, their tendency must be to weaken, 
if not to paralyze, parental exertions. The hearts and 
the habits of the rising generation will not be watched 



IS 

with due solicitude ; and evils will not be checked and 
anticipated, nor promising appearances cherished, with 
that wakeful and unremitting anxiety which the incal- 
culable importance of education demands. Nature, 
with its corruptions, will be allowed to gather strength : 
and grace, if assisted, will be feebly assisted, by pa- 
rental cooperation, (a cooperation which must itself 
also be altogether the fruit of grace,) till the little vic- 
tims of this false system contract a most pernicious 
and fatal habit of hearing and repeating religious 
truths with indifference, and sometimes perhaps are in 
nearly as bad a state as the offspring of irreligious 
parents. 

How can such a case be contemplated without an 
unusual share of pity ! Of pity, for children with 
bright prospects so blasted; and for parents whose 
very piety, under partial and therefore mistaken views 
of Gospel-truth, prepares disappointment and bitter 
pangs in future life, if not eternal ruin, for those whom 
they have brought into being, and whom, under a bet- 
ter system of education, they might have found their 
glory, and joy, and crown of rejoicing in the great 
day of the Lord, 

That the parents have adopted partial and errone- 
ous views of religious truth, who can doubt ? God is, 

in the strictest sense, the Giver of all good, both in 
the natural and in the spiritual world ; but in botli he 

employs means to effect his objects ; and the well di-. 
rected efforts of his creatures form a most important 

branch of those means. Who expects to reap if he 

will not sow, or to read if he will not learn his alpha- 



19 

bet ? Nor is the connexion between the acquisition oi 
spiritual advantages, and the use of means, less inti- 
mate. Thus, though Christ is our salvation, yet the 
salvation of mankind is spoken of in Scripture as de- 
pending on the exertions of the Apostles and their fol- 
lowers. They are called the light of the world. When 
it is declared, that they who cail upon the name of tiiC 
Lord shall be saved, immediately afterwards, for the 
special purpose, as it should seem, of pointing out the 
absolute necessity of employing means, the apostle 
proceeds to ask, '' How then shall they call on him in 
whom they have not believed ? And how shall they 
believe in him of whom they have not heard ? And 
how shall they hear without a preacher ? And how 
shall they preach except they be sent V^ Rom» x, 14, 
15. And in strict conformity with this view of things, 
he declares himself willing, in his own ministerial la- 
bours, to spend and he spent for the benefit of others ; 
and charges his spiritual son Timothy, in the episco- 
pal office assigned to him, to be instant in season and 
(by a sort of hyperbole of speech, arising from his 
deep impression of the unspeakable importance of ex- 
ertion) out of season. So when indolent or bad teach- 
ers are mentioned, the efficacy of means is no less 
strongly marked. Under the Mosaic dispensation, the 
sins of the people are continually ascribed to the negli- 
gence or the false doctrine of the priests. Our Saviour 
holds similar language when, speaking of the teaching 
of the Scribes and Pharisees, he says, that " if the 
blind lead the blind, hoth shall fall into the ditch.^^ 
And, under the Gospel, the effect of the errors of the 



20 

well-meaning but mistaken builders of ^^ hay, straw, 
stubble/^ on the true foundation, Christ, is pointedly- 
noticed. It is declared, that such teachers shall suffer 
loss ; their people not being prepared by them to abide 
tlie fiery ordeal by which every teacher^s work (that 
13, the flock converted by him to Christianity) was to 
be tried, 1 Cor. iii. 11 — 15. So fatal would be the 
eflect of the wrong measures taken by them in their 
christian ministry ! Not to multiply quotations, I will 
close what I have to advance on this head with point- 
ing out some few parts of Scripture respecting the 
very case before us ; namely, the instruction of chil- 
dren» How earnestly does Moses charge the Israel- 
ites to teach the law to their children^ as they rise up and 
sit down^ and come iti and go out I Could he have 
more strongly characterised instant, constant, unre- 
mitting instruction ? Solomon is scarcely less press- 
ing in his exhortations to train up a child in the way 
in which he shmdd go ; and he is most distinct in his 
promise of a blessing and success to such instruction. 
When the Lord appeared as an angel to Abraham, he 
plainly intimated, that the patriarch's exertions among 
his children and the rising generation in his household 
would be effectual as means of securing them in the 
true faith. Gen. xviii. 19. And I cannot but think 
that children were allowed to partake of the initiating 
rites of circumcision and baptism, at so early an age, 
on the general presumption that the appointed means, 
if duly employed by their parents and sponsoi's, would 
secure, under God's blessing, the great object of con- 
version to God. 



21 

If this view of the scriptural doctrine respecting, 
not the importance only, but the necessity of using 
moans zealously, diligently, unceasingly, for the at- 
tainmeiit of spiritual ends, be just : what shall we say 
of those parents who excuse their want of assiduity 
and vigour, in taking ])roper measures to impress the 
hearts, as well as to inform the understandings, of their 
children, on the plea that conversion is God's work, 
and that the times and seasons for carrying it on are 
in his hand ? I will not argue with them, but leave 
them to the admonitory voice of their own conscience. 
When we look forward to the advancement of religion, 
among the rising generation, there are no promoters 
of that great work, on whom we fix our eyes with so 
much hope, as on pious parents. How deeply then 
must we lament that tliere should be found among them 
such principles as I have mentioned ; which, operating 
on paren{al partiality, or love of ease, or other dis- 
positions unfavourable to watchfulness and vigour in 
conducting education, present us, in a spiritual sense 
at least, with " ashes and mourning,'' in families where 
we expected ^< beauty and the oil of gladness !" 

But the foregoing error is most to be deplored when 
joined with another, also arising from a source whicli 
challenges our respect and veneration : I mean, the 
hope entertaineil by some parents, remiss in the spiri- 
tual nurture of their children, that the promised bles- 
sing to the offspring of pious ancestors will be realised, 
srroner or later, in their conversion. On the influence 
of such a sentiment, when united with that which was 
last under consideration, I need not dwelK Every one 
3 



22 

must see that when, on the one hand, a low opinion is 
entertained by parents of the efficacy of human en- 
deavours, in leading their children to true conversion ; 
and on the other^ a hope is indulged that the great 
Sheplierd will, at some time or other, gather them to 
his fold ; the efforts in education w ill be altogether 
destitute of watchful and persevering energy, and the 
worst effects may be expected. Whether, however, 
this latter sentiment be combined with the former or 
not, it is of a> importance sufficient to claim our seri- 
ous attention. Let us then examine how far it is war- 
ranted by Scripture and experience. Those who hold 
it, rely on the numerous passages in the word of God, 
in which a blessing is promised to the seed of his true 
servants, and more particularly on the gracious decla- 
ration in the second Commandment. These divine 
promises are sources of great comfort to christian 
parents, strenuously exerting themselves in bringing up 
their children in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord. What numbers have been supported by them, 
whe*^ toiling, apparently without success, in the dis- 
charge of their parental duties ! But even those who 
are so employed may expect more than the promises 
were intended to convey. And if such persons, the 
very persons for whose benefit the promises were giv- 
en, may look forward to the conversion and final sal- 
vation of their children with unwarranted confidence ; 
what shall we say of confidence,— what shall we say 
even of hope, in those who are ill perfomning the du- 
ties of parents, and who, though they will scarcely al- 
low it, make the promises themselves the ground of 
their neglc( t ? 



£3 

How far a misplaced hope of this kind may have 
contributed to the lamentable declension, in many in- 
stances, of succeeding generations from the piety of 
those which preceded them, cannot be determined : but 
certain it is, that such declensions stain the page of 
history in almost all times. Look at the successors of 
Joshua, and of the Elders of his appointment ; at the 
sons of Samuel and of Eli, of Jehoshaphat and of Josi- 
ah ; and at the descendants from the -^lembers of the 
first christian churches, as well as of the cliurches re- 
formed from Popery ; at the descendants from tlie pi- 
ous ministers ejected in this country at the time of the 
Restoration, and from their hearers : in short, search 
the annals of the Jewish or Christian Church in al- 
most any age, and you will he convinced that the pie- 
ty of ancestors is very far indeed from being a securi- 
ty to their offspring. 

To humble, zealous, well-directed, and persevering 
efforts, in the work of Christian Education, God gives 
a signal blessing; but those, who will not employ such 
efforts, have no ground to expect any blessing. They 
may rather look with awful apprehension to the cur- 
ses every where denounced in the word of God aga-'nst 
those who have mercies placed within their reach, but 
will not accept them in the appointed way. 



5£4 
CHAP. II, 

The Period f :i early Infancy to the Learning to read--^ 
Faulty Course commonly pursued — A very early At- 
tention to Tempers and Habits recommended — ItelU 
gion how to be instilled — Parental Example. 

1 HE years which precede manhood are naturally 
divided into several periods. The first is, from early 
infancy to the time when the child begins to read. The 
next is, from that time to the time of going (if a boy) 
to school, or to a private tntor ,• and, if a girl, to the 
age of ten or twelve. On the present occasion, my re- 
marks will be confined to these incipient but highly 
important stages in education. 

The period of infancy is generally suffered to slide 
away with little or no attention to the work of educa- 
tion. The child is supposed to be in a kind of irra- 
tional state, which will scarcely admit of moral disci- 
pline, and its parents seem to think only of its health 
and amusement. If it wants any thing, its w^ish must 
begrafifiedj if it cries, it is to be quieted by indul- 
gence ; or if this cannot be effected, attempts are fre- 
quently made to cheat it into a belief that the desired 
object has suddenly vanished. If it has been hurt, the 
immediate cause of its misfortune, whether animate or 
iiianimate, is not seldom to be beaten, and the child it- 
self is encouraged to join in inflicting the punishment. 
Things proceed in this way nearly till the time when 
the child can talk, and often much longer ; and when 
this system is changed for another ; still it gives way 



25 

very slowly, and in many cases some remains of it may 
be discerned for years after the child is allowed to be 
capable of instruction. What is the true character 
and tendency of this course of proceeding . It unques- 
tionably fosters those seeds of evil which abound in our 
nature. Is man naturally self-indulgent ? What tlien 
must be the effect of a studied system of indulgence ? 
Is he impatient, and passionate, and vindictive ? How 
greatly must these dispositions be cherished ; by not 
only permitting but encouraging their gratification ! 
Is he disposed, when in pursuit of favourite objects, to 
be little scrupulous with respect to violations of plain- 
dealing truth ? The artifice to which nurses and fe- 
male relations resort would almost create such a dis- 
position, w^ere it not originally in his bosom. V/ith 
what eyes then must the Almighty look upon such a 
course of proceeding! It would be trifling with my 
readers to pursue tliis topic any faither. 

But now we proceed to the important inquiry. What 
system of managesnent ouglit to be substituted in the 
place of that which has been described ? All persons 
who do not think that a plea of necessity (a very un- 
founded plea, however, in the present case) may be 
urged in favour of the practiv^e of positive evil, must 
allow, that every thing should be avoided by mothers 
and nurses, which has a tendency to chei'ish and brins: 
into activity that depraved nature which, if there be 
any truth in Scripture, or any reliance can be placed 
on experience, we all bring into the world wit!i mA' 

* The natural perversion oi the luiman heart, or Hie predom- 
inance of its propensities to evil, rather than to p^ood, if, bv mr.ii> 



20 

I'liey will grant, therefore, that Nanny, or tlie cat, or 
the chaii*, are not to be beaten because they happen to 
have displeased the child. — But must not we confine 
ourselves to mere abstinence from fostering evils ? Is 
it not visionary and chimerical to attempt to check bad 
tempers and habits, and to lay a foundation for good 
ones ? Or if an attempt of this kind be not altogether 
hopeless, is it not at least unnecessary to make it at so 
early a period, when little success can be expected : 
and most advisable to defer it till the reason of the 
child is further advanced, and its ability to submit to 
discipline is greater ? My experience gives me a view 
of ])arental duty very different from that to which these 
questions would lead. The Almighty Creator very 
soon begins to unfold in man those intellectual aiid 

at the present day, not only denied, but on the contrary tbcy con- 
tend, that its prevailing' tendency is towards virtue's side. In sup- 
port of this opinion it is said, that '^virtue is universally approv- 
ed, and vice detested ;" and that^ " were it not for bad example 
and bad education, children would not be so generally prone to 
evil, as we now find them.*' But it may be said in answer, that 
were it not for good example and good education, children and 
men would doubtless be much worse than they now are. 

To decide correctly on this subject, we should inquire, what 
would be the result, were children permitted to grow up without 
any salutary instruction, restraint, or admonition ; or which 
course of instruction would be attended with the greatest success ; 
that which inculcates moderate indulgence, obedience to parents, 
repentance for sin, the love and spiritual worship of God, and all 
the self-denying and disinterested duties of the Gospel ; or that, 
wliich inculcates self-indulgence, disobedience, hardness of heart, 
and contempt of God, and all his commandments ? 

Viewing the subject in this light, no one can doubt, what tlie 
natural tendency of the human heart is; 



moral faculties whicli are destined, when rightly em- 
ployed, to qualify him for tlie highest services and en- 
joyments through the ages of eternity. In a few weeks 
after its birth, a child's reason begins to dawn ; and 
with the first dawn of reason ouglit to commence tlie 
moral culture which may be best suited to counteract 
the evils of its nature, and to prepare the way for that 
radical change, that new birth, promised in baptism, 
and the darling object of the hopes of every parent who 
looks on the covenants in that holy rite, not as forms 
but as realities. Let me appeal to every mother who 
delights to view her infant as it lies in her arms, 
whether it does not soon begin to read <^the human 
face divine," to recognise her smile, and to shew itself 
sensible of her affection in the little arts she employs 
to entertain it. Does it not, in no long time, return 
that smile, and repay her maternal caresses with looks 
and motions so expressive, that she cannot mistake 
their import ? She will not doubt, then, the impor- 
tance of fostering in its bosom those benevolent sym- 
pathies which delight her, by banishing from her nur- 
sery whatever is likely to counteract them. She will 
not tolerate in a nurse that selfish indifference to the 
wants of an infant, which sometimes leaves it to cry, 
while she finishes her breakfast or chats with a com- 
panion. Much less will she tolerate passionate snatch- 
es and scolding namCwS, and hard and impatient tones 
of voice, in the management of her child. I may be 
pronounced fanciful ; but I certainly think it would be 
of importance to keep sour and ill-humoured faces out 
of a nursery, even though such faces were not com- 



^8 

monly accompanied by corresponding conduct. I ara 
persuaded that I have seen a very bad effect produced 
by a face of this kind on the countenance and mind of 
an infant. Is it not reasonable to suppose, that if an 
infant sympathises with a smile, it may also sympa- 
thise with a froW'U, and catch somewhat of the inward 
disposition which distorts the features of the nurse ? 
Thus begin the efforts of a parent to cherish all that 
is benevolent and affectionate in the bosom of a child ; 
and to prevent the growth of every thing of an opposite 
nature. And who shall presume to assign limits to the 
importance of such efforts in the education of a being 
whose leading disposition, if it fulfil the will of its Mak- 
er, must, both througli life and through all eternity, be 
love? 

But parental cares soon extend. In a short time, 
impatience and selfishness show themselves in a child 
and are accompanied by fretfulness, jealousy, anger, 
and envy. At so early a period does innate corruption 
display its powers, and call for the restraining hand 
of a pareitt ! Bat how are these evils to be counteract- 
ed at an age when both the body and mind are so tender, 
and when neither arguments nor explanations can be 
understood ? Undoubtedly great delicacy of treatment 
is required. The character of the cliild must be stu- 
died : and, if possible, such correctives must be applied, 
as will not deeply wound its feelings. It is surprising 
what female ingenuity, quickened by maternal tender- 
ness, will achieve in this w ay. Does a child, too young 
to listen to reason, want something it ought not to 
have? Its mother will suddenly turn its attention to 



29 

another object, and thus prevent the rise of improper 
tempers, or arrest them in their course. — Is it jealous 
of the attention paid to a brother ? While she perse- 
veres, perhai)s, in showing to a brotlier the kindness 
which has raised this jealously, she will pour such a 
stream of affection on both the children, as shall at 
once show them how much each is the object of her 
love, and lead them by vsympathy to feel a similar 
love for each other. This will be the best antidote to 
jealousy. But cases will arise, in which, with all 
her ingenuity, she will not be able to effect her purpose 
in this way. On such occasions, if the child is too 
young to undeistand reason and persuasion, she will, 
as far as possible, shorten and sweeten its trial, but 
without fostering bad dispositions in its bosom. If it 
is a little older, she will endeavour to turn the trial to 
good account, by holding up to it such christian and 
filial motives as suit its capacity and character. These 
will be accompanied by such a description and exem- 
plification, on the one hand, of the effects they ought 
to produce, and of the sunshine of soul to which they 
lead; and on the other, of the hatefulness of the fault 
in question, of the unhappiness w hich must attend the 
commission of it, and of the regret and bad consequen- 
ces \Nhich must follow ; as may, by God's help, prepare 
its tender mind for spiritual discrimination, and a 
spiritual taste, (if I may so speak,) and give its infant 
affections some bias on the side of God and duty. 

But how% some parents may ask — how can this be 
effected at so tender an age? It seems to us impossi- 
ble. — Believe me, much may be done, ^ith very young 



so 

children, by placing gradually before them, with cheer- 
fulness and affection, and in a spirit suited to the occa- 
sion, religious truths, associated as much as may be 
with images pleasing to their minds. The appella- 
tions, God and Jesus, should soon be made familiar to 
them ; and the dwelling place of these Divine Persons 
may be so pointed out and described ,• and their power 
and their holiness, and more especially their love, 
may be so set foith and brought home to the feelings, 
by little and simple illustrations, that, while the ten- 
der mind is imbued with the first rudiments of reli- 
gious knowledge, reverence, and affection for divine 
things, if God smile on the endeavour, shall be excit- 
ed in the heart. But special care must be taken not 
to give fatiguing lectures, nor to make too jiower- 
ful calls on the feelings. *^ Here a little and there a 
little,'^ must be the parent's motto in conveying instruc- 
tion at this age ; and for that little, the seasons must be 
chosen when the child is most likely to lend a willing 
ear : and the subject must always be dropped before it 
becomes tiresome, unless there be some very pressing 
call for its being continued ; in which case, indeed, the 
occasion itself will generally make it interesting. Ve- 
I'y short and simple stories from Holy Writ may be 
employed with great advantage : as that of Jesus tak- 
ing the little children in his arms, and blessing them ; 
that of his restoring the widow's son to life ; and many 
others. If these are told in a cheerful manner, and 
with such little appropriate touches, as will present the 
scene to the imagination of the child, they will seldom 
fail to delight it, and will be called for again and again. 



31 

When they are fixed in its meniorj', it is evident with 
what great advantage refei-ence may be made to them 
when the parent finds occasion to have recourse to dis- 
suasion, or reproof, or exhortation. 

In conveying instiuction, it is a most important 
point for the parent always to bear in mind, that far 
more may be done by exciting the sympathy of the 
child, than by appealing to its reason. Things indeed 
should always be presented to it in the garb of truth 
and good sense ; but unless its fet lings are in unison 
with its convictions, it may be perfectly persuaded oi 
truths without being influenced by them in practice. 
And how are the appropriate feelings to be excited in 
its bosom ? Chiefly by the feelings of the parent be- 
ing in unison with the subject on which he speaks. Is 
he dwelling on the greatness of God, or on his all-see- 
ing eye, or on his eternity, or on his glory ? Let his 
own heart harmonise with his lofty theme, and proba- 
bly the I ight string in that of his child will vibrate. 
Is he describing the divine love, and tenderness, and 
mercy, especially as exemplified in Jesus Christ ? If 
his own feelings are impressed by the picture he pre- 
sents, those of his child are not likely to be altogether 
unmoved. But reverse the case as to the parent, and 
what is to be expected from the child ? Who can be 
so absurd as to hope, that, when religious truths are 
taught as a schoolmaster teaches the grammar, good 
impressions will be made on the heart ? Do we see in 
fact, that when the Catechism is so taught, any such 
impression is made. Step into a village-school where 
that excellent compendium of our holy religion ha-s 



3£ 

been learnt merely as a task, and you will find the 
children as little affected by its truths, (even if they 
understand it,) as they are by the lessons in their spel- 
ling-book. One would almost think that they conceiv- 
ed it pointed out the high privileges and the sacred du- 
ties of the itihabitants of the moon, and tl^t they had 
nothing to do with it but to get it by heart. Few, if 
any, parents, it is hoped, who make religion a bianch of 
education, proceed in a way so utterly irrational as the 
generality of village-schoolmasters in teaching the cate- 
chism ; out in whatever degree they approach to the 
village-school system, in that degree must they look 
for a similar result. If 

^^ Si vis me flere, dolendum'est 
*^ Pi'imum ipsi tibi,"* 

be a just description of human nature, when applied to 
adults, it is doubly and trebly so in the case of child- 
ren. Adults have been used to attach certain feelings 
to certain truths and certain incidents, the recurrence 
of which will do much towards exciting those feelings ; 
but children have not yet learnt (except in some obvi- 
ous instances,) how the circumstances of life vvill influ- 
ence their own welfare, and the welfare of others ; 
and therefore it is no wonder that their feelings should 
not be excited, until they see how others feel. The 
great Creator has ordained, that in early childhood 
all the powers and faculties of man shall be placed 
under the guidance, and in a very great degree under 
the forming hand of his parents. His feelings are 

* If you would have me weep, you must first be affected with 
grief yourself. 



as ready as his intellectnal powei^s to t^ke flic im- 
pression tliat may be given them. How strong are 
the prejudices imbibed from pare!)ts in early youtli ? 
When pains are taken to pr-odiice a similarity, how 
clearly do we see the prominent features in the man- 
ners, habits, and feeling of parents reflected in their 
offspring ! A little gipsy is an adult gipsy in minia- 
ture. I am told, that among the Gentoos a like simi- 
larity is very apparent; and 1 have myself been struck 
by it among the Quakers — a sect whom 1 by no means 
mention to dishonor. AVhy may not the potent engine 
which produces such striking effects among these and 
other classes of men, and often promotes feelings and 
habits adverse to good sense and propriety, to good 
order, or to true religion, be employed in favour of the 
best interests of man and the glory of God ? To suffer 
it to lie idle, is folly and sin. But, in fact, it will not 
be absolutely idL. One thing or another, children will 
always be catching from their parents ; and through 
the corrupt bias of human nature, they will be far more 
ready to catch the evil than the good; and^eveniii 
copying what is innocent, if not positively good, in pa- 
rents, they will be very apt to give it some turn, or as- 
sociate it with some quality, which may make it sub- 
servient to evil. What then is likely to be the effect of 
negligence in this great point ? In truth, can we look 
around us, and not have lamentable proofs of its effect ? 
How many children of good parents do we see imitat- 
ing little, in parental example, but neglect of duty! 
In the parent, this neglect has been chiefly visible per- 
haps in education ; but the child, as might be expected, 
4 



extends it much farther. Or, suppose the parent to be 
led by a blind fondness to humour his child, to over- 
look his faults, and to allow himself to omit the present 
duty of restraining and ruling him, under some vague 
hope that a more favourable time will arrive for the ex- 
ercise of his power, or that God will in his own time, 
by his own providence, and by the teaching of his own 
Spirit, correct the faults which the father tolerates. 
Shall we not be extremely likely to find that a child so 
educated will chiefly resemble his parent in giving way 
to self delusion and self indulgence, and in indistinct 
and unscriptural reliance on future gifts of Providence 
to the neglect of present duties ? But it is not only by 
copying his faults that a child derives evil from a par- 
ent: if care be not taken, qualities and habits, inno- 
cent, or even commendable, will be so caught or so 
imitated by the child, as to administer to the gratifica- 
tion of his evil passions. — Is the parent energetic ? Let 
him guard against his child's adopting his energy as an 
engine of pride or ambition. — Is he jocose ? His play- 
ful humour may be imitated by the child, for the pur- 
pose of putting aside serious thought or vigorous ap- 
plication ; or of indulging in ridicule or satire ; or of 
practising tricks not consistent with simplicity and sin- 
cerity of character, and employed probably for selfish 
purposes. Nay, unless care be taken, piety itself in a 
parent, that child of Heaven, may lead to fanaticism, 
or cant, or hypocrisy in a child. Certain tones and 
gestures, wliich (though, as I think, to be avoided) are 
in the parent the accompaniment of true communion 
with his Maker, often become quite pitiable or disgust- 



ing in the child, not being connected with those deep 
devotional feelings wliicli can alone make them tolera- 
ble; or, if so connected, being utterly unsuited to his 
age. 

This subject miglit be pursued farther ; but enough 
has been said to excite the reflections of well-meaning 
parents ; and tliose reflections will naturally point to the 
particular circumstances of each individual, and be far 
more useful than any thing I could add. No one can 
di5ubt the deep responsibility of every parent to make a 
good use of his powder over the dispositions and affec- 
tions of his offspring. And since, in exercising that 
power, nothing will be so operative as his own exam- 
ple, how earnest should he be, that the light which 
shines in him may be the true light of the Gospel, puri- 
fied as much as may be from every thing that may ob- 
vscure or defile it ! And also how earnest should he be 
to join to such an example a sagacious watchfulness, 
and even a holy jealousy, to prevent his child from 
misunderstanding it, or the principles and motives 
from which it springs ; aiid to prevent a perverse or 
deceptior§ use being made of it ! 



o6 



CHAP. III. 

General Ohsern^ation^ — Parents to guard against their 
Faults in the Presence of their Children — Children not 
to be made Playthings — The Child^s Good, and not the 
Parenfs Ease, to be the object — The Heart to be had 
tji View rather than the outtvard Act — Guard against 
a chiWs Jrtijices — Study Consistency of System — Jn- 
tercourse with your Children — Freedom of Conversa- 
tiori-^Study of Character — Personal Exertion in Edu'- 
cation. 

I SHAM* proceed to offer to parents some general 
recommendations^ which may guard them against evils 
not uncommon in families, and may shorten my r^ 
marks on many of the details of education in suhae* 
quent parts of this essay. 

1. Let a parent be particularly on his guard against 
his faults and weaknesses when in the bosom of his 
family. 

The reverse is not seldom the case. The circum- 
spection and restraint practised abroad, are often 
a^reatlv relaxed at home. Here liberties and self-in- 
dulgences are thought more allowable ; wrong tempers 
are not instantly repressed in the bosom, and are suf- 
fered to defoi'm the countenance, and also sometimes 
to break out in unchristian tones, expressions, and con- 
duct. We must all have observed this in others ; and 
few of us, I conceive, are unconscious of having been 
sjomclimes taken by sm^prise on the entrance of a friend, 



sr 

and of having felt that it was necessary to recal both 
the mind and the face to a gi'eater serenity and benig- 
nity, in order to receive him properly. Now, can we 
seriously think that a heart and a countenance unfit 
for our friend, were fit for our children, who surround- 
ed us before his arrival ? Can we estimate the mis- 
chief which such moral deformity, placed be{\)re their 
eyes in the person of their father, may produce ? Some 
one says, that no man is a hero before his valet-de- 
chambre, I will not stop to inquire wljat is becom- 
ing in a hero ; but a Christian certainly ought, if pos- 
sible, to be more a Christian before his family, where 
his influence is greatest, and the effects of liis example 
the most important, than in any other situation. Juve- 
nal has said, ^^ Maxima debetur pueris reverentia f^-^ 
though his view of education was only to prepare youth 
for an upright and able discharge of their common du- 
ties in this life, with little regard to God or eternity. 
How deep then ought his maxim to sink into the heart 
of a Christian, whose views are so much higher, and 
who is to educate beings called to perform all their du- 
ties as those who now sit in heavenly places, and are 
kings and priests unto God ! 

£• Never make mere playthings of your children. 

Many fathers treat their little ones as if nothing wafs 
to be sought in their society but mutual amusement. 
All is good humour when they are together,- and 
therefore all is supposed to be riglit, though there br 
little besides folly and self-indulgence on one sfde, and 

• The most ciixumspect deportment should be maintained 
the presence of children. 

4* 



iiiipi'oper liberties, caprice, self-will, or artifice, on the 
other* In short, there seems to be a s^rt of conspira- 
cy between the parties to indulge the natural man. The 
child is often even taught to be indecorous, and mis- 
chievous, and saucy, for the amusemejit of its parent. 
What excuse can be made for such a scene ? The 
poor child is greatly to be pitied : but really the pa- 
rent, if we were to look no further, would appear to 
be a sort of monster, devoid of principle, of feeling, 
and of common sense. Follow him, however, to his 
serious occupations, and you may find him a usefu! 
and respectable man. What a shame, that he is insen- 
sible to the high destiny and unspeakable value of the 
little creature whom he is spoiling, for the sake of half 
an hour's foolish trifling ! W hat would he say of any 
one who threw about his gold repeater as if it were a 
ball, or sported with his Wife^s jewels as if tliey were 
marbles ? And yet bis own folly is infinitely greater. 
The creatures whom he is placing in such danger for 
his sport, are infinitely more precious tlian gold, wiiich 
peiisheth } and pearls and diamonds are worthless 
compared with them. One would think that mere 
selfishness might restrain such absurdity even in a man 
who did not extend his view beyond this world. The 
time may come, when the evil fostered in the child will 
be a scourge to the parent, and when his sufferings 
will excite the less compassion in others, from their 
recollection that these scenes of egregious folly had 
undermined that natural respect which would other- 
wise have been a check to ill conduct on the part of his 
child. — May parents, then, never relax with their 



59 

children ? Must they always sustain the grave char- 
acter of a tutor ? Most certainly they may, and oughts 
frequeniiy to relax with them, and even to take pains 
to make them happy by joining in their little amuse- 
ments : but they may combine this course of proceed- 
ing extremely well with a constant recollection of the 
immortal nature and high value of their children, for 
whom Christ died, and witli a suitable behaviour to- 
wards them. A fath<^r will soon leai^, in such playful 
moments, " miscere utile dulci,'^ or, according to our 
English pi'overb, to <« be merry and wise ;^* and he 
will rank such seasoiis among those which are most 
important for checkijig what is wrong in a child, fos- 
tering what is right, instilling good principles, infus- 
ing a just appreciation of things, and a taste for what 
is lovely arid of good report. All the good seed sown 
on such occasions will be so combined with tiit? child's 
pleasures and affections, as, with God's blessing, to 
take deep root in the soul, and promise a vigorous and 
permanent gro^^til. 

3» In managing a child, let a parent always have the 
child's good, rather than his own ease, in view. 

In domestic education, when parents speak to their 
children in a tone of dissatisfaction, what is heard so 
frequently as, " Don't be so troublesome ?'' It is true, 
children ought not to be suffered to be so troublesome, 
since both kindness and propriety forbid them to be so, 
but the tone of the complaint generally shews very 
clearly that the great grievance is, not that the child 
has those dispositions which make it troublesome, but 
that others, and particularly the complainant^ are 



40 

troubled. Thus the child soon discovers, that it is cor- 
rected rather for the ease of its parents and attendants^ 
than for its own good ; and it has before it an exam- 
ple and a lesson of selfishness, whicli may do it as 
much harm as it receives benefit from the check given 
to a bad habit ? — What ought to be done on such occa- 
sions ? Undoubtedly the troublesome practice should 
be prevented ; but tliis should be done in such a way 
as to show the child that the parent would willingly 
submit to trouble, to promote ixs good ; but that such 
disp 'sitions as lead it to trouble others, are unholy, 
and must be eradicated. 1 he pleasure a Christian will 
have in giving pleasure^ and his pain in occasioning 
pain, must be pointed out, and proved, and illustrated. 
As nothing is to be combated in children with more 
care and perseverance than wselfishness, so nothing is 
to be ntore strictly guarded against in parental exam- 
ple. The child is to be taught to make sacrifices 
cheerfully, and to deny himself, and take up his cross j 
and the parent must be especially careful that his own 
example forward the learning of this diSicult lesson. 
On occasions in which the admonition is, <^ Don't be 
troublesome,^^ would not <^ Don't be thoughtless,'^ ^^ don't 
be violent," or ^* don't be unkind," often be more appro- 
priate ? Is it expedient very generally to use a mode 
of expression which points to the effect rather than the 
cause of a child's conduct, — ^to the inconveniences 
brought on others, rather than to the state of his 
mind ? 

4. In correcting a fault, look to the heart rather 
than to the outward act. 



41 

How common is it for parents to pursue tl\e opposite 
course ! They are satisfied with condemning and pre- 
venting wrong conduct, without much attending to the 
temper of mind in which their animadversions are re- 
ceived, and the child is often left unhumbled and discon- 
tented, and in a state as displeasing to God as when it 
was committing the fault in question. This mode of 
proceeding appears to me essentially wrong, and pro- 
ductive of serious evil. It does not bring the child to 
repent;ince before God, and to peace with him. It di- 
rects its view to the maintenance pf decency in exter- 
nals, rather than to a jealous scrutiny of its motives and 
dispositions, and an earnest desire of reconciliation with 
its God, after having offended him. Though these 
ifciarks of true rei>entance cannot be expected at so early 
an age in their full extojit, yet a broad foundation for 
them is often laid during the two or three first years 
of/infancy. On tlie other hand, when we see a child 
frown, or shrug up his shoulders, or pout and redden 
on being blamed, can the rebellious and unbending 
spii'it within be doubted ? Is he humbled for his fault, 
and in a spirit to forsake it and seek forgiveness ? Is 
there any jjutting off of the old man, and putting on of 
the new man ? And, yet, can it be denied, that this is 
the only temper to which the promise of pardon is made ? 
It is the temper in which adults must come to Christ for 
pardon and peace; and it is therefore the temper to 
which, from the very dawn of reason, we should eur 
deavour to bring children. 

In our endeavours to effect this great object, kind 
and mild, and serene, but unyielding, perseverance is 



4!E 

to be employed. There must be neither violence nor 
hurry. If the child is impatient, some restraint, it* 
necessary, must be used to prevent ebullitions of pas- 
sion or fretfulness, and time must be given for it to re- 
cover itself: then steady and unwearied, but calm and 
affectionate, addresses to his reason and feelings, suit- 
ed to its age, and habits, and natural disposition, must 
be employed. The sagacity and ingenuity of the pa- 
rent must be tasked to select the best topics, and han- 
dle them in the best manner, for the productiol^of the 
desired effect. Buf^ above all, his eye must be upon 
God for guidance and a blessing, and for putting his 
own mind in the frame best adapted to win upon the 
affections of the child, and impress his heart. The 
dawnings of a right spirit in him must be hailed ; open- 
ness and confidence must be courted and encouraged ; 
the kindness of God and Christ to penitents must be 
as fully and touchingly pourtrayed as their hatred of 
sin. Care must be taken not to overstrain or over- 
power the feelings; and when any danger of doing so 
appears, a pause must take place till they ai^ relieved, 
and self-command is regained. This course admits of 
great variations, and must be carefully adapted to the 
age, and character, and attainments of the child: but 
I think I can say from experience, that it will seldom if 
ever fail of ultimate success, if steadily and habitually 
pursued. It may be said to begin from nothing; and 
for several months a very small part of it will be 
brought forward, though there will be a continual pro- 
gress, as the mind of the child opens, and something 
right in moral feeling and habit is established. He 



43 
will begin to learn the difference between being good 
and naughty;, though he desists from doing a naughty 
thing, he continues naughty till he is sorry for it and 
good humoured ; and then, and not till then, he may 
expect the kiss of forgiveness, and regain the favour 
of his parent. Next he will be taught to reflect on his 
happiness when good, and on the pain he suffers when 
naughty ; and he will be told that this is from God, 
who loves goodness and hates naughtiness, as he sees 
his parents do. Then he will proceed to learn that, 
like his parents, God expects sorrow for sin, and a 
mild and humble prayer for forgiveness, before he will 
forgive a naughty child, and love him and make him 
happy. While this is in progress, the parent will en- 
deavour to make the child feel the evil and folly of 
naughtiness, and the beauty and true wisdom of being 
good. This will not be very difficult to inculcate, 
when the child is sensible that sin and misery, and ho- 
liness and happiness, generally go together. During 
the latter part of this course, gospel facts and princi- 
ples will be gradually opened. The child will have 
heard of Christ ever since he first heard of God ; and 
now the distinct character and offices of Christ will be- 
gin to be unfolded. He will be painted as the Friend 
of mankind ; as the great Refuge of all who have done 
wrong ; ns always willing to help them, and beg his 
Father to forgive them ,•— as all kindness and good- 
ness, and as setting us an example of all that is lovely 
and excellent ; and as now exalted in glory, and all- 
wise, and all-powerful. Pains will be taken to make 
'Him the object of affection attempered by reverence, 



44 

and to make it pleasant to the child to please him, and 
painful to offend him. The child will in like manner 
be made acquainted with the Holy Ghost, and heaven, 
and hell, and the day of judgment, and eternity, and 
the lost state of man, and redemption. All these 
things will he taught with an immediate reference to 
practice and the heart. They must be imfolded grad- 
ually, and with a strict attention to the abilities and 
temperament of the child ; ami special care must be 
taken, that by God's blessing the feelings shall be pro- 
perly affected as the understanding is informed. 

5. Be on your guard against the little wiles and ar- 
tifices, which children will soon employ to obtain their 
ends. 

It is surprising how ingenious and adroit they will 
be in this way. They will endeavour to do, as mere 
play, something, which they know to be wrong and 
forbidden ; and to put you off, by a laugh and a jest, 
when you require them to acknowledge that they have 
-done wrong. These little tricks lead to much evil. 
They undermine sincerity and simplicity of character; 
and instead of being amused by them, as is often the 
case, a parent should view them with concern, and in 
that spirit carefully repress them. It is a good general 
rule in early youth, that nothing shall be said or done 
in jest, which would be wrong if in earnest. More 
latitude may be allowed to those who are grown up ; 
but children cannot so easily discriminate between what 
is irmocent in jests, and what is not ; and if they could, 
they have not sufficient steadiness of principle, and 
sufficient self-command to confine themselves within the 



45 

proper bounds, when suffered in their moments of gaiety 
to approach the brink of what is wrong. It is of the 
gi'eatest j)ossible importance to preserve the mind from 
the taint of cunning and deceit ; and therefore we ought 
to be more anxious to avoid doing too little than too 
much to secure this point. Simplicity and integrity of 
character, the great foundation of every thing good, 
depend upon it. 

6. Do all you can to secure a consistency of system 
in the management of your children. 

It is quite appai'ent how indispensable it is that the 
father and mother should at least not counteract each 
other. If they do not and cannot think alike on the 
subject of education, by mutual concessions and accom- 
modations, they should pursue a similar plan with their 
children. Grievous are the consequences when they 
proceed differently. The childien presume to erect 
themselves into judges between their parents : they 
play off one against the other. Not only one parent 
sinks in their esteem, but they often lose respect for 
both, and are disobedient to both. Thus the Fifth 
Commandment is habitually broken ; and bad principles 
and bad habits are as likely to be established by educa- 
tion in a young family, so circumstanced, as good ones^ 
— -Let me intreat parents to shun this fatal rock. If 
one of them is conscious that the other is best qualified 
for the work of education, let such parent be disposed 
to yield points as far as duty will allow, and to strengthen 
the hands of the other. And even the other, instead of 
presuming on superior ability in this line, and carrying 
matters with a high hand, and peremptorily insisting 
5 



46 

on points respecting which there may be a uifferenceoi 
opinion between them, should proceed with as much 
accommodation as can be made consistent with duty ; 
and where a point cannot be yielded, still the suaviter 
in modo^ should be practised with peculiar care, and 
the necessary duty performed in a way as little grating 
and offensive to the parent, who disapproves, as may 
be. Let the more enlightened parent recollect, that an 
indifferent plan of education, in which parents harmo- 
niously join, will generally answer much better thai a 
superior one, respecting which they differ. Besid s, 
by kind accommodations, the misjudging parent is often 
won by degrees to see things in a more just light, and 
to acquiesce in a better system. Where both parents 
act on principle, and refer to the Bible as their stand- 
ard, and do not interpret it in a very different way, a 
degree of accordance, which will answer tolerably well 
for practical purposes, may reasonably be expected. 
The greatest difficulty arises when one of the parents 
does not act on principle, or refers, substantially, to a 
different standard from the other^ Even in these 
distressing cases, the suaviter in inodoj on a true chris- 
tian foundation, will do wonders. It often disarms 
hostility and counteraction^ and leaves the young family 
very much in the hands of the parent best qualified to 
educate it. And I fully believe, from personal observ- 
ation, that the divine blcvssing rests in an uncommon 
degree on the labours of a christian parent so unhai)pily 
circumstanced, and fruits follow excellent and abundant 

* Mild and pleasant. 

f A gentle and accommodating* manner. 



47 

beyond all human expectation. With what pleasure 
have I seen a majority of the young members of a 
family, most lamentably exposed to temptation by one 
parent, snatched out of the fire, as it were, by the pious 
and constant, but meek and unassuming, labours of the 
other ! 

In families where the parents proceed harmoniously 
and well in the work of education, their plan is often 
lamentably counteracted in the nursery or the school- 
ri'om. If the children are indulged there in bad tempers 
i id habits ; and still more if they there meet with bad 
Examples ; with passion, or pride, or deceit, or a love 
of ease and luxury ; all which is done in the parlour 
may be undone, and perhrps more than undone^ and 
notwithstanding all the eSorts of the parents, the 
progress of the child may be not in good, but in eviL 
Even on the most favourable supposition, the fruits 
produced by the exertions of the parents, under such 
circumstances, will be scanty and crude. The bias of 
nature will be so in favour of what is wrong, and so 
against what is rijjht, that, if divine grace did not 
w^onderfully favour the exertions of true piety in educa- 
tion, tlie task of the parents would be hopeless. How 
carefully, then, should nurses and others, who have 
the care of children, be selected ! And how attentively 
should the course of things in the nursery and the 
school-room be watched and regulated ! To this end 
the nurse or the governess should be impressed with a 
sense of the very high importance which the parent 
attaches to good tempers and good habits ; to which 
must be added, good principles, if the child is old enough 



48 

to understand them. But it will by no means be suffi- 
cient to endeavour to make this impression by general 
declarations. It must be made in detail and by example, 
and with a persevering, but not a harassing, recurrence 
to those points which seem to be not sufficiently under- 
stood, or not properly carried into practice. The vig- 
ilant eye of the parent will always be wanted to keep 
things in a right course, as well as to put them into it 
at first. It must be laid down as a principle, that 
nothing must be concealed by the child. That vile 
maxim against telling tales out of school (vile, when 
employed to keep parents in ignorance,) must be utterly 
proscribed ; and openness and confidence must be 
zealously cultivated, both in the child and in those wiio 
have the charge of him. But the parents must not 
trust to being informed of every thing important to be 
known. They must delicately, but efFectually make the 
requisite inquiries ; and also take care by personal 
inspection (conducted, however, with kindness, and 
delicacy to the nurse or the governness,) to ascertain 
the real state of things. But, with all that can be done, 
it will seldom be found possible to put the management 
of children in the nursery on a truly good footing. The 
class of persons to be employed is so ill-educated and 
unenlightened, and such of them as are pious are gen- 
erally so injudicious, that not only the plan of the parent 
with the child will scarcely ever be even tolerably 
maintained when the child is out of his sight, but posi- 
tive and serious evils will be produced and cherished. 
It is highly important, therefore, that the child should 
be as much with the parent as circumstances will permit. 



49 

Every hour in the society of a parent who understands 
education, and pays proper attention to it, is an hour 
gained to moral improvement, and (as far at least as 
regards children yet in the nursery) is too often an hour 
redeemed from what is far from deserving that appel- 
lation. In whatever way the child is employed, whether 
in talking or playing, a moral lesson may be instilled, 
moral habits may be encouraged, and bad ones repres- 
sed : the parent will continually be obtaining a greater 
insight into the child's character, and the child greater 
affection for its parent. Thus good will be doing, and 
a foundation laying for still greater good. Indeed, God 
seems to me to afford no sliglit ground for presuming 
that children should be much witli their parents, by 
making the society of each so pleasant to the other, 
where the parent performs his part as he ought, and 
the child has not been spoiled by excessive indulgence 
in some other quarter. But the evidence of his will, 
which arises from the benefit resulting to the child, and 
also, I believe, to the parent, from this intercourse, is 
irrefragable and decisive. 

It often happens, however, that there is an incon- 
sistency in education more to be deplored than any 
which has yet been mentioned ; — this is the inconsistency 
of the parent with himself. The author of the Epistle 
to the Hebrews, contrasting the correction employed 
by parents with that used by the Almighty in his gov- 
ernment of his true servants, says : •« They '^ (the 
parents) " verily for a few days chastened us after their 
own pleasure,^ but he for our profit, that sse might be 

*A friend Las intimated, that the Greek phrase, translated 



50 

partakers of his holiness.'' What a picture is this ! 
God, the Sovereign Proprietor of all his creatures, in- 
variably pursues the good of those whom he designs to 
call his sons, in all the discipline to which he subjects 
them ; while man^ who can call nothing his own, who 
is a mere trustee under the Almighty, who, in his conduct 
towards his chiklren, should always bear in mind that 
both they and he are bought with a price, and that not 
his own gratification, but the will oi God, should be 
his rule in all he does as a father, — man presumes to 
forget his imperious duties in education, and to make it 
his object to please himself rather than his sovereign 
Lord ! If we did not continually see the fact, we should 
not believe it possible that the work of education would 
be so often carried on under the supreme influence of 
selfishness. His own ease and convenience, and the 
indulgence of his own feeling and humour, frequently 
seem to engage a father's first attention in his proceed- 
ings with his children ; and, except in striking cases, 
which oblige him, as it were, to depart from so lax a 
system, the good of the child is clearly made, in prac- 
tice, though not in theory, a secondary object ; so true 
is the description of the Apostle — he proceeds according 
to his own pleasure ratlier than for the profit of ,his 
children. When education is not conducted so very ill, 
and the good of the child is generally the main object 

** after their own pleasure," would be better rendered " as ihey 
thought fitting".'* If the latter be the real import of the original, 
the passage will not form so broad a foundation for my observations, 
as if it were that given in our translation. But however this may 
be, I am convinced that the extent of the evil pointed out in them 
is but too fully proved by fact and experience. 



of the parent, and his own inclinations are generally 
made to bend to \t; yet, in many families, this general 
course is subject to most numerous and grievous ex- 
ceptions. When the stimulus to self-gratification is 
strong, the parent yields to it, the rules of good educa- 
tion are violated, and the child cannot but be injured. 
The injury (unless God avert it) will be in proportion 
to the extent of this fault. Some portion of it is found 
in all parents ; but I am speaking not of a few thinly 
scattered instances rarely occurring, such as must be 
expected from so weak a creature as man even in his 
best estate, but of its more frequent and glaring recur- 
rence, to the serious interruption of a good system of 
education. 

Now it is clear that this fault, in whatever degree it 
may exist, is an enemy to consistency of conduct. As 
it proceeds from the parent yielding to a different motive 
from that which ought to actuate him, and sometimes 
at least does a(?tuate him, when with his children ; this 
new motive must lead to different results from those 
which would flow from the other, and produce incon- 
sistency. But this is by no means all. A man with 
whom self-gratification is a leading motive, is incon- 
sistent with himself. He will conduct himself towards 
his child according to his present humour. One hour he 
will be indulgent, and the next severe : atone time he will 
allow his child to do things, which at another he will 
foi'bid. The child also will find out that he can carry 
points by management ; by making his request when 
the parent is in a yielding humour, or by bringing him 
into such a humour by coaxing and wheedling, or by 



52 

overcominpj his objections by importunity. Inconsist- 
ency must be the consequence : and an inconsistency 
the more to be deplored, because it will be connected 
with a failure in respect for the parent who is the author 
of it, and with the practice of cunning and art in the 
child, — habits of mind most adverse to all that is good. 

The very high importance of consistency must be 
apparent to all. Will children be likely to value good 
principles as they ought, when their parents do not 
steadily act upon them, and enforce them ? Will good 
habits be rooted and fixed in the child, when he is 
allowed at times to indulge in the opposite bad ones ? 
Will he be led to see the beauty of holiness of heart, 
and of holy conduct, when he is allowed at times to 
taste the sweets of sin (for every fault is a sin) from 
which he ought to be weaned, and when he finds his 
own self-indulgence sanctioned by the self-indulgence 
of his parent ? " The ways of religion are ways of 
pleasantness, and all her paths are peace ;'^ but to those 
only who steadily walk in them. They have no charms 
for those whose conduct is marked by frequent or gross 
inconsistencies. 

7. Spend much time with your children ; encourage 
them to be free before you 5 and carefully study their 
characters. 

For what is education ? It is cooperating with the 
Divine Spirit in forming the mind and changing the 
heart of an immortal being, whose nature is extremely 
complex, by no means easily understood, and differing 
greatly in different individuals ; in all, however, weak 
and corrupt and averse to the change to be wrought in 



03 



it. Is it possible to doubt, that what is above recora- 
metided must be necessary in this work ? Can too 
great pains be taken where so much is at stake ? Can 
success be rationally expected, unless great pains are 
taken, and your labours are enlightened and judicious ? 
And can you flatter yourself that you take due pains, 
or that your labours will have a proper direction, if 
you give little time to your arduous task, and do not 
employ proper means for becoming well acquainted 
with the characters of your children ? 

It is wonderful that a parent can hope to be an eSex3- 
tual instrument under divine Grace, in leading his chil- 
dren from darkness to light, and from the power of 
Satan unto God, by proceeding in the way in which 
religious education is often conducted. Is it not gen- 
€FJt!ly irii^, that even in religious families, more 
thought, and care, and time are employed in teaching 
children to read, tlian in teaching and persuading 
them, by God's help, to be real Christians ? The fa- 
ther sees but little of those who are young, and much 
less than is desirable of such as are older. The first 
he considers as scarcely at all under his care ; and 
though he probably gives some instructions to the lat- 
ter, they are commonly such as are more calculated to 
enlarge their knowledge, and improve their under- 
standings, than to regulate their dispositions, and 
make them new creatures. His avocations often are 
such as to make it impossible for him to be a great 
deal with his children ; but he generally might be much 
more wth them than he is ; and, when with them, 
might employ the time much more usefully for the pro- 



54 

motion of their best interests than he does. It often 
happens that they are under a degree of restraint in 
his presence, which, added to the little time he spends 
with them, prevents his obtaining a deep insight into 
their characters : and, therefore, either many evils es- 
cape bis notice, or he adopts some wrong mode of cor- 
recting them ; and many a tender germ of good passes 
unobserved, and withers for want of his fostering care. 
The mother is much more with her children, but gen- 
erally, I think, not so much as she ought to be. This 
is the more to be lamented, because women are admi- 
rably fitted for training their offspring in the nurture 
and admonition of the Lord. They have a remarka- 
bly quick insight into character ; and a warmth of af- 
fection, a tenderness and a delicacy, v/hich win the 
affection of others, and enable them to correct faults 
without giving offence, and to present christian prin- 
ciples and virtues to their children in their most amia- 
ble form. I believe that there has seldom been a man 
who had a good and amiable mother, that has not in 
after life looked back on her instructions and example 
with reverence and delight. Cowper's admirable lit- 
tle poem, on viev/ing his mother's picture, touches the 
hearts of all of us, because it describes scenes and feel- 
ings dear to every virtuous mind ; scenes and feelings 
of which many of us have partaken, and all wish to 
partake. Every hour which a christian mother spends 
with her children has balm on its wings. She con- 
trives to make even their pastimes a moral lesson ; and 
though she cannot (and it is not desirable that she 
should) make their regular lessons a pastime, yet she 



55 

adapts them well to the abilities of her scholars, accom- 
modates tliem well to times and circumstances, and di- 
vests them of whatever is oppressive and revolting. 
To mix the pleasant with the useful, is at least as im- 
portant in education as in poetry ; but good mothers 
far exceed good poets in that art. Surely, then, a 
mother should be jealous of every thing which keeps 
her from the bosom of her family ; — a sphere in which 
she is so gifted to shine, and to be a blessing to those 
most dear to her. How sad it is, when she throws 
away this pure gold for mere dross, by giving up those 
hours to an excess of visiting and company, or even of 
reading, which ought to be spent among her children ! 
And how sad, too, w hen such high powers to train her 
young charge for Christ and glory are not under the 
guidance of an erJightened judgment, or receive a 
wrong direction ; I have been grieved to see maternal 
sensibility much more alive to the bodily than to the 
spiritual health of the objects of its solicitude : electri- 
fied when there was an idea that a child had received 
some slight hurt, but little moved while it was contest- 
ing a point with a nurse or teasing a brother. And I 
have been much more grieved, when I have seen it fall 
into partiality and favouritism ; or exhaust itself in 
anxieties about the persons of the girls, to the compar- 
ative neglect of their understandings, and to the great 
injury of their feelings and dispositions ; or employ it- 
self in heaping on them accomplishments, instead of 
leading them on in useful attainments and christian 
habits ; or yielding to the influence of humour or ca- 
price ; or (worse than all) giving itself over to a blind- 



DO 

ness to the faults of the objects of its love, and ruining 
them by indulgence and commendation. 

The 01 ly plausible excuse which parents, possessing 
health and sufficient time, can make for not employing 
themselves actively in the education of their children 
is, that they put them into hands more fit for that task. 
This may be a good reason for sending boys, after a 
certain age, to school, or to a tutor; though still, even 
in their case, much remains to be done by parents. 
Waving, however, the consideration of tliis part of the 
subject, the excuse which h.as been mentioned does not ap- 
pear to me admissible, u nder any common circumstances, 
in the case of girls and of younger boys. Of these, the 
parents are certainly the natural guides and instruc- 
ters. By long knowledge of their offspring, by their 
just title to respect as parents, and by affections and 
sympathies on both sides, they are fitted for this task 
far better than strangers can be. And if they suffer 
these great instruments of good to be lost or perverted 
to evil : or if they fail to qualify themselves for their 
task by obtaining other requisites, and by allotting to 
it sufficient time and thought, and taking due care and 
pains ; they must be answerable to God. They niay, 
with much propriety, call in assistance, especially in 
the mechanical parts of education ; but should always 
consider themselves as keeping the higher branches^ 
which respect the principles, dispositions, and habits, 
chiefly in their own hands. Can they entrust these to 
nurse-maids ? They must certainly answer no ! Or 
to governesses ? These, in general, are but ill quali- 
fied to undertake this most impoitant part of education. 



57 

Besides, being extremely inferior to the parents in the 
points which have been mentioned, they are almost al- 
ways unprepared for the task. The boarding schools, 
at which they are educated, afford them little instruc- 
tion in this line, beyond what is necessary for ensuring 
tlie getting of lessons, and the maintenance of peace 
and subordination. 



58 



CHAP. IV. 



The Period between a ChiWs beginning to read and go- 
ing to School : — its Importance — The Objects of Ed- 
tication^ and their relative Value. — Commencement of 
Instruction in Eeading.-^Rousseau : — Education a 
Discipline. — Choice of Books. — Tones and Jriicula- 
tions.'—-Care in the Use of religious Books : — Selection 
of them. — Catechisms. 

UuRiNG the period between a child's first beginning 
to read and the time of his going to school, the mind 
becomes capable of more continued and systematic in- 
struction. Its powers expand and acquire a degree of 
firmness : and a far more regular foundatioL Tnay be 
laid for the opinions, dispositions, and habits, which 
ought to predominate in mature age. That wondrous 
being, man, displaying so many marks of his high ori- 
gin, as well as of his deplorable fall ; whose astonish- 
ing progress in knowledge, when his powers are cul- 
tivated, and whose more astonishing capabilities of 
knowledge, clearly point him out as destined to a more 
exalted state of being j and whose no less astonishing 
progress in good or in evil, and further capabilities of 
both according to the course he takes, afford clear indi- 
cations that that future state will be one of righteous 
retribution, eminently blessed or eminently wretched : 
»— that wondrous being, at an early age, receives im- 



59 

pressions which sink deep into his as yet soft and yield- 
ing nature, and acquires habits which take such firm 
hold of that nature, as almost to become part of it. With 
what anxious care, then, should this spring-time of life 
be employed in preparations for the future harvest ! 
If there be not a harvest of good, there must be one of 
evil. The heavenly sickle will most assuredly, in due 
time, gather either the one or the other : and then with 
what unspeakable joy or grief will parents look back 
on their conduct towards their offspring during the 
years of early childhood ! 

There is a further consideration, which, in the case 
of boys, adds extremely to the importance of parental 
exertions in education during the period in question. 
On its expiration, they usually leave their father's 
house, never afterwards, during the whole course of 
their education, to spend in it any very large portion 
of theik time. And whither do they go ? To school- 
where they are surrounded by new companions, and 
find in abundance new sentiments, new habits, and new^ 
temptations. Their parents are no longer at hand ; 
and it is impossible for the master to afford them tlie 
protection which parents can afford against the inroads 
of folly and vice, especially out of school hours* His 
time is too much occupied, and his family is too nu- 
merous to admit of close personal attention to his indi- 
vidual scholars, in their general manners and habits^ 
If they enter this new world without decidedly good 
principles, and corresponding conduct of some contin- 
uance, what is to be expected ? Can it be rationally 
hoped tliat they will resist their own natural bias to 



60 

evil, stimulated, as it will be, by bad example and 
false shame ? If the father sees, on his son's return 
home for the holidays, a change which shocks him, 
(though parental partiality will often make him in a 
great measure blind to that which is apparent to oth- 
ers,) how is he to remedy the evil ? He will exert 
himself during the boy's continuance at home. But that 
is short : and to be followed by a much longer period 
during which his son will be again exposed to the same 
temptations which he was before too weak to resist ;— 
temptations now more formidable from not having 
been resisted. The parent will engage the master to 
counteract the evils he deplores ; but the master, what- 
ever may be his ability and good intentions, cannot 
perform impossibilities, nor, if the number of his pupils 
be not extremely small, give the time and attention to 
the case of tliis one boy, wliich it would probably re- 
quire. Supposing, however, his engagements to ad- 
mit of his executing this task effectually, I confess I 
should be apprehensive that he will very rarely be 
found disposed to do so. His affection for the child 
cannot be expected to be that of a parent, and therefore 
he Will generally be found deficient in the delicate and 
unceasing duties of an office which requires all the 
tender solicitude that flows from parental affection. 
The father also writes frequently to his son. Letters, 
in such a case, are a very inadequate substitute for oc- 
cular inspection and viva voce^ admonition. Perhaps, 
liowever, he adopts what he deems the most efficacious 
measure, and sends his boy to another school. Is there 

* Admonition by word of mouth. 



61 

mi reason to fear that the new school will have its 
own peculiar disadvantages ? But supposing it to in- 
troduce him to no new evils, is there any valid reason 
to hope that it will furnish a radical cure for the old 
mischiefs ; God's grace can do every thing ; and his 
mercy often effects more than we can ask or think; 
but I cannot avoid looking upon tlie prospect of a pa- 
rent, whose child has not taken to school with him a 
good foundation of religious principles and habits, and 
enters on bad courses there, as very gloomy and dis- 
couraging. 

Enough, I hope, has been said on the vast impor- 
tance of making the best use of that period in educa- 
tion which is now under review. How is this pui'pose 
to be effected ? Without presuming to give a full an- 
swer to that momentous inquiry, I will offer some prac- 
tical observatioris on the subject. 

First, then, in taking a christian view^ of the objects 
of education, there can be no doubt that the first is to 
instill and cherish, in dependance on the divine bles- 
sing, true religion, both in the soul and in the daily 
and hourly habits of life ; and the second, to convey 
general knowledge, and form tte mind and the manners. 
These objects are in no small degree coincident each 
with the other. Nothing is so conducive to whatever 
things are lovely, of good report, virtuous and praise- 
worthy in the various walks and stations of life, as a 
heart renewed by the Holy Spirit, and a demeanour 
corresponding with such a renewal. But, so far as 
they are distinct, the first has a decided pre-eminence. 
Happy is it when in practice it meets with the superi- 
6^^ 



or care, attention, and solicitude, which in theory is 
readily allowed to be its due ! Partly from causes 
which have been pointed out, and partly from the ex- 
ample of that vast majority of manldnd which has not 
true religion really at heart, even christian parents are 
apt to slide into a system of education, if not directly 
oppr 3d to the foregoing principle, yet certainly one, 
which, in the opinion of St. Peter, or St. Paul, would 
be thought too nearly approaching to '^ the course of 
this world.'^ Let it be strongly borne in mind, that 
if we do not set out with a just and distinct view of our 
objects in the management of our children ; and if we 
do not continually try our practice by our principles, 
and use vigorous and unceasing endeavours to keep it 
up to their standard, the stream will be poisoned at the 
very fountain, and we shall have cause to deplore the 
consequences. 

An attention to the relative importance of tlie objects 
in education is necessary, even in the very first step 
to be taken by a parent in the period under considera- 
tion. He must determine at what age it will be best 
to begin to teach his child to read. Were he to make 
mere progress in reading his chief concern, I am by 
>vo means certain that he might not defer the com- 
mencement of his iHstructions a year or two longer 
than is desirable,^ if he considers tlie acquisition of good 
habits as of still greater importance, and to be greatly 
promoted by calling a child to the obedience, attention, 
patience, self-denial, and other good habits ;;^hich he 
must practise, in acquiring the first rudiments of read- 
ing. However, the weakness and volatility of the lit- 



63 

tie scholar, and the great repugnancy of oui* nature to 
excliange ease and play for restraint and toil, must bt 
borne in mind. But little must be put upon him. For 
a time, attention must be required for no more than a 
very few minutes, and that not more than once or 
twice a day. But what is done, be it ever so little, 
should be done with a regular aim at correctness. -' A 
little and well/' should be the teacher's motto. Above 
all, the utmost endeavours, consistent with sober and 
sound instruction, must be used to svve^ ten the labour,^ 
and not only to prevent bad tempers, but to foster 
every thing good and amiable. Times must be chosen 
for lessons, when no particular cause exists for ill hu- 
mour or impatience ; and whatever is likely to excite 
such tempers must be kept out of the way» If any 
thiilg unexpectedly occurs to make the child greatly 
wish for an earlier release than usual, it will be gener* 
ally right to indulge him more or less, according to 
circumstances, in this point, if he has been tolerably 
good in his lesson ; and even when he has not, and it 
is impossible to speak of the favour as in any degree 
the fruit of his good conduct, — or if from any other 
cause, from bad temper, for instance, it is doubtful 
whether he is in a state to go on properly with his 
reading, — it will usually be best to stop the lesson. 
But for obvious reasons he must not, in the latter case,^ 
be treated with indulgence, but be made to feel that he 
has been an offender by some little restraint or priva- 
tion, and. jove all, by a suitable conversation on the 
subject. A delicacy of management is requisite on these 
^casions^ They call not only for a due appreciation 



64 

of their importance, but for sagacity, thought, lively 
and w«ll-poise(l feelings, self-command, and active and 
sound principle in the parent. In most of these requi- 
sites mothers far exceed fathei*s. Let this considera- 
tion, while it gives confidence and vigour to the exer- 
tions of the mother, also point out to her the extent of 
her criminality, if she fail to make a good use of a tal- 
ent bestowed upon her for the benefit of her ojBTspring ; 
and let it impress on the father the necessity of using 
double diligence in qualifying him.self for the discharge 
of his parental duties, than which none can be more 
clearly indispensable or more sarred. 

As a child becomes rather older, and a little habitu- 
ated to his business, his lessons will naturally be in- 
creased both in length and in frequency. Less care 
will be requisite in choosing the time for them ; and 
after a while that care will cease, and the school hours 
will be stated and deter minate : less weight will be 
given to obstacles in the way of proceeding with a les- 
son ; and in all points more regularity, more self-pos- 
session, more voluntary exertion, and longer and strict- 
er attention will be expected fr<»m him. I would, how- 
ever, caution parents against looking for a rapid or un- 
interrupted cbar»ge in these respects. They will so 
much wish for such a change, borh for the sake of their 
scholar, and to lighten their own burthen as teachers, 
that they will be under a great temptation to expect it, 
and to be somewhat impatient and harsh when disap- 
pointed. This state of mind in parents will be very 
prejudicial to both parties ; and unless there be a time- 
ly consciousness of error, and a recurrence to a better 



65 

course, the most disastrous consequences will follow. 
The bonds of affection will be loosened, the confidence 
of the child will be lost ; and he will be led to feel to- 
wards his parent as a severe master, instead of a wise 
and tender friend, armed indeed by the Almighty with 
extraordinary power, but always unwilling to use it, 
and effecting liis purposes, if possible, by the most 
mild and gentle means. In truth, it is highly unrea- 
sonable to expect little creatures to make a regular and 
rapid improvement in their reading. Such an improve- 
ment may now and then take place ; but in general 
the change will be very gradual, and subject to great 
fluctuations. For a time, a child may make great pro- 
gress, then suddenly appear to make none at all, or 
even to retrograde. Surely, this is very natural in a 
little being come into the world with a strong disposi- 
tion to please itself rather than to do its duty ; and 
ready to be impatient and fretful and self-willed, when 
thwarted in its wishes ; and with mental powers but 
just opening, and habits, if on the whole good, yet very 
new and imperfect, and affording no security against 
the sudden inroads of temptation. I have often seen 
parents so highly unreasonable as to treat evils of this 
kind as if they were quite extraordinary, or almost in- 
tolerable, and such as call for expressions of dissatis- 
faction, and a severity of treatment, not at all to be vin- 
dicated ; and the course they have pursued, in addition 
to other bad consequences, has often tended to aggra- 
vate the very evil they so irrationally deplore and treat 
in so injudicious, not to say in so unchristian, a man- 
ner. Undoubtedly such faults are to be counteracted ; 



66 

but by moderate measures, unaccompanied by anget* 
or discontent in the parent, and not habitually harass- 
ing to the child, or likely to make him hate reading, 
and dread the lesson-hour, and, worse than all, likely | 
to alienate his affections from his natural protector and 
guide. 

What has been said will shew, that though a warm 
advocate for mildness, temperance, and forbearance in 
education, I am no friend to Rousseau's plan, or those, 
built on the same foundation, which have been propos- 
ed by others. I shall not stop to speak of such plans 
at any length, because I do not believe they now re- 
ceive much countenance among those who are likely to 
read these observations, and shall only say, that they 
are founded on not merely an erroneous view of human 
nature, but on a view the very reverse of that given of 
it in the Scriptures ; and that in their operation they 
are calculated to set aside the christian system, and to 
steel the mind against it. What can be more false 
and mischievous than to represent, and treat man as a 
creature disposed of himself to act rightly, and to culti- 
vate every good disposition, if he be but preserved 
from being spoiled by priests and pedants, and be put 
in the way to see, by the established order of things 
in the world, that virtue will best promote his happi- 
ness? Had this been agreeable to trutli, since man 
confessedly wishes to be happy, we should have seen 
virtue clearly predominant among men, if not uni- 
versal ; and vice merely an exception to the general 
state of things. It is true, that God, in his wisdom 
and mercy, has so ordered things, that virtue does 



67 

promote happiness, and vice leads to misery, even in 
this world. At least this is the strong tendency of 
things ; and it is very important to point out this truth 
to children, and to accustom them to feel it in the com- 
mon occurrences of life. Doubtless, the writers un- 
der consideration have ingenious devices for effecting 
tliis object : devices, however, in which there is by far 
too much address and management to suit my taste. I 
should be very apprehensive, that placing a child in 
the midst of so artificial a system was a bad introduc- 
tion to the sincerity and godly simplicity of the Gos- 
pel. But if this objection were unfounded ; if these 
devices were as innocent and useful as they are inge- 
nious ; still to adopt the system of such writers, as a 
whole, would be most ruinous ; so to recommend their 
works, without great circumspection, to those aroun^ 
us, is, in my opinion, highly dangerous. I have thought 
some good people very unguarded on this point. Such 
a recommendation is, in fact, a recommendation of 
poison, for the sake of the virtues that, by a chemical 
process, may be extracted from it. But in the cases 
to which I allude there has been no due caution against 
the deleterious qualities of the poison, and no due con- 
sideration whether those to whom the recommenda- 
tion was given had any competent skill in christian 
chemistry. 
! According to a just view of human nature, whether 
j derived from religion, from observation, or from his- 
tory, in education it cannot be left to the choice of the 
child, what he will learn, and when he will learn it. 
Education cannot by any means be reduced to a sort 



of play ; but it must be a discipline upheld by parental 
authority, mild indeed, and gentle in its exercise, and 
sweetened by affection, but still a discipline ; having 
for its object, in humble dependance on the divine bless- 
ing, the conducting of an immortal creature, in the 
first stage of its existence, from darkness to light, and 
from the power of Satan to God, Its great business 
must necessarily be the counteracting of the natural 
bent of the mind to evil, and the instilling and fostering, 
under the guidance and by the help of the Holy Spirit, 
of a new nature, the very reverse of that which we all 
bring into the world. How can this be effected on the 
plan of Rousseau or his followers ? It is plainly im- 
possible; and the attempt would only increase the 
evils which education should remedy, and fill the mind 
with fascinating, but deadly errors, which it would be 
very difficult afterwards to eradicate. 

The ends of education are to be attained partly by 
regular lessons, and partly by attention to the child out 
of school hours. 

With respect to lessons, I have already made some 
remarks, and now proceed to offeV others. 

It is important that the lesson should be learnt in the 
presence of the teacher for some years after reading 
commences. A young child is too thoughtless, and has 
too little self-command, to be left by himself, while he 
learns a lesson. His time will probably be mispent, 
and the lesson will accustom him to trifle over his 
book ; and what is more important, he will fall into a 
habit of omitting what he knows he ought to do, which 
will naturally be extended to other branches of duty ; 



69 

and this failure will, in all probability, lead to another 
and a worse evil, namely, that of making disingenu- 
ous excuses, and even of telling direct lies, in order to 
avoid punishment. 

Another circumstance, nearly allied to the foregoing, 
deserves attention. A parent should be ready, if pos- 
sible, to hear a child's lesson as soon as he offers to 
say it. It is not uncommon with teachers to make 
their scholars wait as long as suits their ow^n conven- 
ience, and expect them to be getting their lessons better 
during this delay. Such expectation is not at all ra- 
tional, and will almost always be disappointed. It is 
not easy to induce a child to attend to his lesson, even 
when he is convinced of the impossibility of saying it, 
unless he gives his attention. But to expect continued 
attention from him to the study of a lesson in which 
he thinks himself already perfect ; to expect that he 
will bestow on the lesson time and labour W'hich ap- 
pear to him superfluous, and proceed in the same dull 
round of getting and getting what he thinks he can say 
already ; this surely is absurd. Is it not also an of- 
fence against that law of love, wiiich, while it demands 
an attention to the feelings, and a condescension to the 
weaknesses of all mankind, lays us under a peculiar and 
more pressing obligation to consult the happiness of 
our children, and forbids us to expect to occupy the 
place we ought in their affection and confidence, if we 
will not obey its dictates ? An unnecessary delay in 
hearing lessons must tend not only to disgust the schol- 
ar, but to add to the labours of the teacher, who will 
generally find that a lesson which would have been 
7 



ro 

said ten minutes before with good humour and alacrity^ 
is now either not said at all, or said in an imperfect 
manner, and with weariness and dissatisfaction. Where 
there are several scholars, it will be difficult entirely 
to avoid this evil ; but by good management it may be 
brought within such narrow bounds as not to be formi- 
dable. When cliildren become somewhat older, say 
eight or nine, they may bear waiting for a short time, 
till a teacher is ready ; and, under proper guards 
against attendant evils, it may sometimes be even a 
useful discipline. 

Something will shortly be said as to religious books. 
With respect to others, there is ample choice of pro- 
per ones 5 but there is still a greater number of such as 
are improper. Those ought to be selected, which are 
not so easy as to require little, if any, mental exer- 
tion, nor so difficult as to be necessarily a burden : 
which will be interesting to the child, but not frivolous 
or absurd, or bearing a resemblance to novels ; which 
convey useful instruction, and which harmonize with 
good principles. 

Little children are apt to contract unnatural tones 
in reading, and also a low, indistinct, and muttering 
articulation. A teacher must guard against these evils. 
The latter is best prevented by placing the scholar 
ilrst at a little distance, and by degrees at a greater, 
till he and his instructer, each having a book, are re- 
moved several yards asunder. As the bad articulation 
usually arises from their being close together, and 
poring over the same book, so it is prevented by chang- 
ing that system. The only objection to the course 1 



71 

propose is the inteiTuption to otlier scliolars who are 
getting lessons, by the loud voice of the one who is en- 
gaged with the teacher^ In some cases, this may be 
so great an evil as to make that course unadvisable ; 
in others, a little ingenuity in arrangement will be 
necessary to make it practicable ; and this will be 
cheerfully employed, if its benefits are properly appre- 
ciated. Of course, it cannot be adopted until the time 
is arrived when the teacher is no longer obliged to 
point to the letter or word to be read by the scholar. 
With respect to books of a strictly religious descrip- 
tion, some further remarks are necessary. In using 
such books, care should be taken to keep their great 
object constantly in view. It would be a desecration 
of the awful subject to use a book of this kind entirely, 
or even principally, for the purpose of teaching a child 
to read. Such a proceeding would be somewhat like 
employing a church for some common worldly pur- 
pose. It is of high importance, that religion should al« 
ways wear her holy garb, and that the youthful mind 
should never approach her but with the sentiments 
which she ought to inspire. Whatever tends to disso- 
ciate her from such sentiments ; to habituate children 
to hear her truths, or use her language, without such 
sentiments, does them an injury which it may be very 
difficult to repair. To speak of God, his word, or his 
will, without holy reverence, is, I conceive, repugnant 
to the spirit of the Third Commandment, and there- 
fore a breach of it : and that reverence will not be 
maintained, if books on such subjects are taken up 
when religious improvement is not the leading object 



If this be so, let parents beware of using such books | 
merely as vehicles even of religious knowledge. Reli- 
gions knowledge, without religious dispositions, will 
not impress the mind with reverence. The head may 
be stored ; but when the heart remains cold, divine 
truth not only fails to produce the effect intended by it; 
but the mind is gradually hardened against right im- 
pressions at a future time. To hear solemn truths, 
without feeling them, grows into a habit. God forbid 
that>any approach to so awful a state should be con- 
templated with indifference ! We all know how tre- 
mendous it is, as exhibited in the case of some loud, 
but hollow professors of religion. We also may have 
seen or heard of instances of desperate obduracy in 
persons who have grown old in assisting in the out- 
ward services of religion, without yielding to its power. 
How attentive, then, should parents be to the frame of 
their own minds, and how desirous of promoting a de- 
vout spirit, in those of their children, when the read- 
ing or conversation is on religious subjects ! Let them 
endeavour to make it a holy exercise to both parties. 
Let them endeavour to exclude a curious, or a cavil- 
ling, or a controversial, no less than a formal spirit, in 
the little beings to whom they are opening the heaven- 
ly patli. Let them be quite in earnest in making their 
lessons, lessons of humility, reverence, modesty, de- 
votcdness to God, and trust in him, and love of him, 
as well as lessons of religious truth. Then, with the 
divine blessings will a beautiful harmony exist between 
the head and the heart. Then will parents have the 
highest gratification which they can enjoy as parents : 



rs 

that of seeing their charge make sensible progress to- 
wards perfect men and women in Christ, and grow in 
favour both with God and man. 

But among the books to which these remarks may 
apply, the holy Scriptures are beyond comparison pre- 
eminent. They never should be approached but with 
deep reverence for the divine Author, and a deep sense 
of their inestimable value. When employed in read- 
ing them, the parent should set an example sometimes 
of shof "iJirpirations to God, (short, simple and modest, 
but froia the heart.) for his blessing, and always of a 
devout spirit; and the very book should be used and 
preserved with more than ordinary care. Somewhat 
of the temper of mind inculcated on Moses, ^^ Put o(f 
thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou 
standest is holy ground,'^ should be sought and cher- 
ished on such occasions. In order the better to instil 
and preserve a proper reverence for the Bible, I would 
recommend the not beginning to read either the Old 
or the New Testament with children before their gen- 
eral respect for religion, and their progress in self- 
command, afford reasonable security that they will con- 
duct themselves rightly wliile so engaged. They 
should also have attained some facility in reading, that 
the diflSlculties they find in a sentence may not so far 
occupy their attention as not to leave it sufficiently dis- 
engaged for the attaining of the spiritual advantages 
which ought to be the great object in view. >yhen 
they do begin to read the Scriptures, let tliose pai'ts be 
carefully selected which they can best understand, antl 
which are most likely to intercit tlirm : and let the 



74 

readings always be short, and be held oat rather as 
a favour than as a task, and always as a religious duty. 

Perhaps there is no religious book with which it is 
better to begin than Watts^ Hymns for children. They 
are very simple and attractive, and contain (if I may 
so say) a body of sound nursery divinity ; and this is 
presented in such a dress as to gratify the imagination 
and affect the heart, while it informs the understand- 
ing. Some of these hymns may with gi^eat advan- 
tage be gradually taught to children from the mouth 
of the parent before they can be read. This work may 
commence even before a child knows his letters. It 
cannot, however, be conducted too tenderly, and scarce- 
ly too gradually. Very great care should be taken 
not to disgust the little one with that occupation. He 
should never have religion brought before him but with 
a smiling though a serious aspect ; — such an aspect as 
may invite to a further acquaintance. These hymns 
should be carefully explained, as they are learned, and 
in a tone, and wiMi little illustrations, and with gentle 
but lively application to the experience and conscience 
of the scholar, all congenial with the spirit of Watts' 
poetry ; and they should continue a standing book un- 
til all of them have been learned and repeated (and 
never without appropriate observations from the pa- 
rent) two or three times over. 

Some short and easy Bible History, (as Mrs. Trim- 
mer's) is very useful as soon as the child can read with 
tolerable ease» It will convey some general idea of 
the longer narratives ; and while it will furnish useful 
lessons at the time, and give the parent a wider range 



73 

111 his illustrations, and in his appeals to the coiiduet of 
others either in the way of example or of warning in his 
incidental conversations with the child, it will prepare 
the way for reading the Bible itself at a rather later 
period with more advantage. The different parts of 
a long historical narration, interrupted often by digres- 
sions in tlie sacred volume, will thus be more easily 
kept in the memory, so as to form a whole in th« 
child's mind as he proceeds. There is another histo-. 
ry of the Bible of a higher class, which has great 
merit, and will be found extremely useful in its proper 
season. Its title is, "The History of the Bible, in fa- 
miliar Dialogues, by a Lady,'' 4 vols. 12mo, printed 
for and sold by Gardiner, 19 Prince's Street, Caven- 
dish Square. This is a work whicii combines solid in- 
struction and sound views of religion with that share 
of dialogue, and that ease of mauHcr and style, which 
are pleasant to children. Parents are much indebted 
to the authoress. 

As to catechisms, it is best to hegin with Watts', 
which are far better calculated for very young chil- 
dren, than the admirable one of the Church of Eng- 
land. They should be learnt, like his hymns, very 
gradually, and with explanations, and illustrations. 
His first is adapted to a child just beginning to put 
letters together ; and his second to one two or threQ 
years older. 

To the second will succeed our church catechism. 
It appears to me a sad mistake to make children say 
this by heart, without suitable explanations and re- 
marks from the teacher. When this course is follow- 



f6 

ed, (and it is too common,) the child generally under- 
stands very imperfectly what he is repeating j the rep- 
etition, it is to be feared, is accompanied by no devo- 
tional feelings or self-application ; and as far as the 
child does attend to the sense of what he is saying, 
there is reason to apprehend that the evils will accrue 
which have been already noticed as flowing from re- 
ligious truths passing through the mind without mak- 
ing religious impressions on the heart. To avoid such 
evils, and to derive from the catechism the good it 
was intended to convey, it is advisable, I think, to di- 
vide it into four or five parts : and to let one part be 
said every Sunday, (or oftener.) and made a ground- 
work for considerable explanations and illustrations. 
Questions will be put to the children, to try how far 
they understand what they have been saying, and are 
acquainted with those parts of Scripture which have 
a close connexion with it. Their answers should be 
kindly elicited, and kindly treated. They will often 
be erroneous, and generally crude and imperfect ; but 
instead of being fiirward to find fault, the teacher 
should give what encouragement he properly can, and 
gently, and often indirectly, correct errors and supply 
deficiencies by his amplification and illustration of an 
answer, and by his further questions on the subject. 
He should not only be willing to answer questions him- 
self, but should rather invite them ; taking care, how- 
ever, not to be materially drawn away from his ob- 
ject, or led into desultory conversation. The wholc^ 
on his part, should be marked by christian serious- 



77 

iiess, attempered by parental love and condescension. 
He should be 

" Much impressed 
Himself, as conscious of his awful charge, 
And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds 
May feel it too : affectionate in look. 
And tender in address," 

But care must be taken that the conversation or lecture 
(whichever it may be called) shall not harass or agitate, 
but wear a soft and smiling dress, and rather slide 
gently into the heart than seize and appal it. The new 
situations and circumstances which his children i*es- 
pectively have before them, with their attendant temp- 
tations, Vv ants, advantages, and duties, will be borne in 
mind, and have considerable influence as to the turn he 
will give to his discourse. They will suggest much 
information to be communicated, much advice, many 
warnings, and much encouragement. 

The parent will also have an eye to the present 
faidts and defects of the individuals of his little audi- 
ence, and he will now and then openly speak of them ; 
but he will always execute this part of his duty with 
delicacy and tenderness, and qualify what he says by 
introducing, when he honestly can, some commenda- 
tion of those whose faults he mentions, and always by 
laying a stress on the means of improvement, and on 
tlie grounds of hope that those means will be employed. 
Such a mention of faults is useful : but it must be man- 
aged w ith some address, and with a careful attention to 
the disposition of the child j or it may be revolting and 
do mischief, especially if other children are present. I 
have always found these catechetical conversations pleas- 



ant to children, and highly beneficial. As the little cir- 
cle becomes older and better informed, on religious sub- 
jects, the illustration and application of the several heads 
will become more extensive, and the several divisions 
of the catechism, as they are repeated in their turns, 
may be considered as each consisting of tvA^o parts, 
which may be alternately the subjects of comment. 
Thus, if the^rs^ parts are the special objects of atten- 
tion in one course of these lectures, the second parts 
will be so in the next course ; and the same portion 
will recur for illustration only on every eighth or tenth 
Sunday, or five or six times in the year. This plan 
will afford a pleasing variety to older pupils, and yet 
bring each part of the catechism sufficiently often un- 
der review. I usually continue these lectures with 
my children till they are fifteen, or older. 

It may be proper here to introduce some remarks on 
the importance, and on the best means, of fixing passa- 
ges of Scripture in the memory of children. 

I fear it is too common to be satisfied with a less in- 
timate acquaintance with the Word of God, than be- 
comes creatures to whom so inestimable a treasure is 
given. The Bible is at hand, and is often, perhaps is 
regularly, read. Its different parts are recognized as 
old acquaintance on each re-perusal ; and they are not 
passed over without care and attention. In this way a 
foundation is laid, with the divine blessing, of sound 
religious knowledge, and of solid piety. Still, however, 
there is often but little readiness in producing from 
memory the very expi'cssions of Scripture. There is 
a wide departure from the spirit of the directions giv- 



79 

en to the Israelites: — "And these words, vvliich I 
command thee this day, shall he in thine heart; and 
thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and 
shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and 
when thou walkest hy the way, and when thou liest 
down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt hind 
them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as 
frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write 
them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates/^^ 
And yet on an ability to produce the very words of 
Scripture promptly and correctly, from the stores of 
memory, depends often our right and ready applica- 
tion of this our divine rule, both in directing our own 
course through life, and in giving useful advice to 
those about us. Have not we all felt the prodigious 
advantage of an apposite passage of Scripture strik- 
ing the mind on occasions when temptation has pressed 
upon us, or when we have doubted as to the course we 
ought to pursue ? Nor is the advantage less, when we 
can support our advice to others by the very words of 
Holy Writ. But the benefits resulting from this 
knowledge of Scripture are by no means confined to 
such occasions. Tliey extend to the general frame of 
the soul, and to its growth in grace ; and, in this point 
of view, are far more important than in any other. 
Wliat a rich treasury for a supply of holy thoughts, 
and for the cultivation of holy affections, with the di- 
vine aid, does that man possess, whose mind is well 
stored with the word of God ! To him " nunquam viU 
nus solus qiiam cum solus ^'f will be emphatically ap- 

• Deut. vi. 6 — 9. f Never less alone, than when alone. 



80 

plicable* No lonely walk will be dull to him. Even 
sleepless hours on his bed will seldom pass unpleasant- 
ly, but will be marked by a heavenly calm, if not also 
by filial joy. How often, w^hen thus employed, will he 
find time slide swiftly away, and be surprised to find 
the morning break on him, much sooner than he ex- 
pected ! But these gratifications, though so pure and 
substantial, are of small value compared with the grad- 
ual transformation^ of soul, which, through the divine 
blessing, will accompany them. Perhaps nothing hu- 
man promotes more powerfully a renewal in the di- 
vine image, especially in persons of active pursuits, 
than a habit of gently dwelling, in hours of solitude and 
retirement, on such portions of the divine word as best 
suit existing circumstances and the existing temper of 
the mind. 
This exercise 

Luxurientia compesqet, nimis aspera sana 
Licvabit cultu, virtute carentia tollet.f 

All that is within will be purified, harmonised, cheered, 
and elevated ; and it is apparent how much a frequent 
recurrence of such an inward frame must tend to form 
a new creature. 

I may have an undue partiality for this mode of em- 
ploying the thoughts in religion ; but I must say, I 

• Sanctijication would undoubtedly express the Author's 
meaning more clearly. Amer. Ed. 

■}• Checks the luxuriant shoots of vice, and smooths. 
By culture sound, the roughness we retain 
From nature's quarry ; and the heart refines 
From all not virtuous. 



81 

greatly prefer it to suffering tliem to roam at will, and 
pour themselves forth in extemporaneous effusions. 
When so let loose, tliey are apt to be more under the 
guidance of human passions, and are more likely to 
rim into superstition and enthusiasm. At all events^ 
it can scarcely be hoped that the pictures they present 
to the soul will be so innoxious, so pure, so dignified, 
and so edifying, as those wliich arc found in the in- 
spired records of tlie communications of God to man. 

In order to enjoy the full benefit of this species of 
religious contemplation, our knowledge of Scripture 
must be extensive and accurate. It wnll not answer 
tlie purpose to be master of a few passages ; or to be 
acquainted with many, but only in a loose and imper- 
fect way. Tlie power of selection sliould be as exten- 
sive as the occasions which call for it, and tlic disposi- 
tions of the soul, are various ; and when a passage is 
selected, we ought to be able to make use of it without 
mistake or difficulty. 

Now, how wiil this knowledge of Scripture be best 
attained? Beyond all doubt, by learning much by- 
heart during the period of youth. I have heard a gen- 
tleman, very eminent for ability and for biblical knowl- 
edge, say, that he remembei's no part of his Bible so 
well, as verses wliich he got by heart when a boy, as 
proofs of the different positions in the Church Cate- 
chism. It is in youth that the memory is most reten- 
tive ; and the stores it then lays up are the least sub- 
ject to loss or decay from the lapse of time. Like cer- 
tain flowers gathei'ed at a pro[>er season for pi^scrva- 
xion, they retaiji, even to a late period, much of their 
8 



82 

6riginal freshness ; wliile passages learnt in after life 
are apt to fade, and escape altogether out of the mind, 
if not frequently reinstated by repetition. Besides, by 
beginning early, there is ample time for laying in a 
large store of the more important parts of Scripture ; 
and what is learnt will take deeper root, not only in 
the memory, but in the affections, and become more, if 
I may so say, a part of ourselves. The impressions 
thus received will, with God's blessing, 

*' Grow with our grow^th, and strengthen with our strength," 

and contribute essentially to the formation, in due time, 
of the perfect man in Christ. 

In order to acquire this knowledge, let children 
learn a certain portion of Scripture every day, and say 
it to one of their parents. The number of verses ap- 
pointed to be learnt, should not be such as to make 
this business burthensome. When the passage is re- 
peated, it should not only be explained, (if necessary,) 
but pains should be taken to lead the young person to 
enter into its spirit, and to be properly affected by it. 
Without this, little is attained. It will soon be neglect- 
ed and nearly forgotten, when the superintending care 
of the parent no longer keeps it in the memory by fresh 
repetitions. Such repetitions are very important parts 
of the system. They should take place at consider- 
ble intervals, say every six or nine months, with the 
younger children, who are still, at other times, making 
daily additions to their stock of Scripture passages; 
and every year, or year and a half, with the elder 
ones, who are no longer making such additions, sys- 



§5 

tematically, though a passi^ge which liappens to strike 
tliem will now and then be added to those they had 
leaint before. Every repetition shoukl be attended by 
affectionate and familiar conversations, calculated to 
lead to such feelings and dispositions as the passages 
respectively ought to excite. If this is done with ten- 
derness and with due attention to tlie age, acquire- 
ments, and natural temperament of the children, and 
with a care to avoid whatever may make the employ- 
ment irksome or harassing, a parent will seldom tind 
any of his children attend him on such occasions with 
reluctance, but will generally see, in their countenan- 
ces and manner, marks of interest and satisfaction 

It is possible that the young and tlie diSident may 
sometimes fancy that they shall fifid sf>me difBculty in 
fixing on passages for their children to learn ; and this 
may be an obstacle in the way of adopting the course 
I have ventured to recommend. Let them make the 
attempt, and they will succeed sufficiently well. How- 
ever, as they may think otherwise, I will put, in the 
Appendix, a collection of passages from the New Tes- 
tament, which I have known to be used in a young 
family with good effect. Great nicety is not requisite 
in a selection of this kind. 

Two cautions, however, may be necessary in mak- 
ing a selection. 

Avoid passages which have a very direct bearing on 
abstruse and much controverted points. — Children 
ought not to be puzzled in religion. In this sense, as 
in others, spiritual milk, and not strong meat, is their 
proper food. The great aim should be to make, by di- 



^ 84 

vine aid^ their heavenly Father, and their Sanctifier^ 
their Saviour and his Grospel, the objects of their rev- 
erence and of their affections j and this end will be 
greatly counteracted by fatiguing and bewildering 
their understanding. When difficulties occur to them- 
selves, or are so far connected with the subject before 
them that they cannot be entirely passed over, it ap- 
pears to me best to avoid entering minutely into them> 
but to shew, that from the infinite distance between 
God and man^ difficulties must necessarily be expected^ 
when God vouchsafes to creatures any communications 
respecting his own nature, and his own government. 
Nor is it less important to avoid controverted, than to 
avoid abstruse points :— -indeed, those which are ab- 
struse are generally controverted. — Controversy sub- 
jects vital religion in adults to imminent danger, un- 
less they are very advanced and eminent Christians, 
and even then it is not without its perils ; and, in my 
apinion, it never ought to be undertaken, except in 
( ases of necessity, or pushed beyond that necessity* 
But in the case of children with such weak intellects, 
such shallow knowledge, such lively and ill-regulated 
imaginations and feelings, and, above all, with reli- 
gious principles and habits so extremely frail and im- 
perfect, it mustf humanly speaking, be fatal to all that 
is good. 

In general, do not select those addresses to God 
which are likely to be considered by the child as in- 
tended to be used by himself in lifting his thoughts to 
Heaven. How- ever edifying these may be to persons 
more advanced in the christian course, as expressin^j 



85 
in the language of Inspiration their devout hreathings 
of soul, they are unfit and unsafe for children. It can- 
not be supposed that the language which suited the re- 
ligious affections of David, will suit those of a child, 
who is just beginning that spiritual course in which 
David had made so extraordinary a progress, as to be 
" a man after God's own heart/' And, if David's 
language is unfit, it must be unsafe, for a child. Noth- 
ing is more important in religion than modesty, sim- 
pUcity, and godly sincerity ; and it is evident, that ad- 
dresses to the Deity, or expressions of inward feelings, 
which go at all beyond what the actual state of our 
souls would naturally pi'ompt, are not compatible with 
those estimable qualities. Nay, I confess, that even 
in adults, and much more in children, I am better 
pleased whe!i the outward manifestations of devotion 
evidently fall somewhat short of the internal impres- 
sions. By proceeding in an opposite course, many, I 
believe, have been led to direct hypocrisy, and many 
more have become self-deceivers. Where there apr 
pears to be, if not a sort of contest who shall use the 
most fervent expressions, at least an endeavour, while 
engaged in religious exercises or conversation, to work 
up the feelings to a high pitch, and to express them in 
words to the full as warm and glowing, who does not 
see that we are in danger of endeavouring to appear to 
others, and in most imminent danger of appearing to 
ourselves, more spiritual and devout than we really 
are ? Look at the concise modesty of the address of 
the justified Publican, and at the beautiful simplicity 
of the Lord's prayer j and compare them ^^ith tlie ex- 



B6 

ubcraiitj li: not the extravagant stjk> too often met 
with in human devotional compositions, and still more 
in extemporaneous prayers.=^ 

* Extemporaneous prayer is not to be discouraged ; but it 
ought to be attended With humility in the frame of the heart, and 
v/'ith seriousness and simplicity in the outward expression, 

AiyiER. En-. 



87 



CHAP. V. 

Medicniical Beading : — how cbviated — School-Lessons to 
promote Moral Qualities : — Obedience : Ilegularity : 
attention : Patience : Jllacrity. — Happy Fruits of these 
Qualities. — Failures to be expected. — How to be borne^ 

JLt often happens that reading is made too raechan- 
icaU If the words are properly pronounced, and at- 
tention is paid to the stops, and the parts of the sen- 
tence are put together with toleiable propriety, the 
teacher rests satisfied, though the understanding of the 
scholar has been little employed. This is very gener- 
ally the course with village schoolmasters, and many 
parents of good education too nearly approach it. 
Even the mere reading, were this alone the object, as 
it often is in a village school, can never be good when 
ihe mind docs not thoroughly enter into the sense f 
but that parents, whose views extend much farther, 
should ever acquiesce in their children's pronoimcing 
sentences somewliat like parrots, and missing a large 
portion at least of the ii.formation and improvement 
which it was the intention of the author to convey, is 
really siirprising.^ When this kind of reading is per- 
mitted, 1 believe it is owing in a good measure to their 
not being aware how imperfectly their little scholars 
understand what is so plain to themselves. The caII 
in question is of far greater importance than may at 
first appear. The child is led into a habit of reading 



SB 

without thinking, and of resting contented with a very 
confused notion of what is read. Scarcely any thing 
can be a greater obstacle to the acquisition of sound 
and useful knowledge, and of vigorous habits of inves- 
tigation. If these are not acquired, the mind will gen- 
erally become a prey to frivolity and intellectual idle- 
ness ; and it is well if it do not also resign itself to low 
pursuits, and sensual indulgence. As one antidote, 
through divine grace, to these most unchristian and 
often fatal evils, let a child always be made, as soon 
as he can read a sentence, to understand what he 
reads, and to give an account of it afterwards. In or- 
der to effect the latter object, when his reading has 
been more than three or four lines, let him take his 
book and look it over, and give the account when he 
finds himself prepared. The parent must not expect 
this to be given without leading questions to draw it 
forth; and he will think it an important office to 
make this part of the business pleasant to his scholar, 
by smoothing difficulties, making the best of imperfect 
answers, and interspersing the whole with suitable il- 
lustrations and moral remarks, in a tone and manner 
favourable to the right feelings of his pupil, and likely 
to exclude wrong ones, or to administer a gentle cure 
to such as may be rising. So also, whatever is to be 
got by heart, should always be previously read, ex- 
plained, illustrated, and (if I may so say) practically 
applied. 

But the parent ought alw ays to bear in mind that 
every lesson is as truly a lesson in the moral qualities 
to be acquired and strengthened by its being properly 



S9 

learnt and properly said, as it is in the branch of 
knowledge to which it relates. Those qualities are of 
a very high order, and the character in future life de- 
pends extremely on the progress made in their acqui- 
sition during early youth. I will particularize five of 
them ; obedience^ regularity 9 attentioiu patience 9 and alac- 
rity. These ought to be in exercise during every les- 
son ; and a proper regard to them in the pupil during 
school hours, wiil do much good, under the divine bles- 
sing, towards making them habitual. 

1. Obedience — I well remember being much impress- 
ed by a sermon about twenty years ago, when I was a 
young father, in which tlie preacher said, that were he 
to select one word as the most important in education^ 
it should be the word ^< obey.'' My experience since 
has fully convinced me of the justice of the remark* 
Without filial obedience, every thing must go wrong : 
with it, if the parent has right views of his duty, and 
is consistent in his practice, notwithstanding present 
appearances may be very unpromising, every thing 
may not improbably become right. Is not a disobedi- 
ent child guilty of a manifest and habitual breach of 
the Fifth Commandment ? And is not a parent, w'ho 
suffers this disobedience to continue when he knows he 
is armed with sufficient power to overcome it, an ha- 
bitual partaker in his child's oSence against that com- 
mandment ? How can those who are thus criminal 
hope for God's blessing on any part of their conduct ? 
And, without that blessing, what can they expect but 
a progress from bad to worse ? Besides, without obe- 
dience, there will be no respect for the parent ; but he 



90 

will be the object of disregard, and even of a portion 
of contempt. He will be treated slightingly ; his opin- 
ion will be criticised ; his judgment w ill be questioned ; 
and the very endeavours he uses to lead his son to bet- 
ter sentiments w^ill probably produce more harm than 
good. Is it surprising, that under the Di\ine govern- 
ment, the enforcing of obedience should be so essential 
a duty of parents, when the wiiole tenor of Scripture 
shews us, that obedience is the very groundwork of 
Christianity ? The natural propensity of man to shake" 
off the yoke of legitimate authority, is the disposition 
most adverse to God and his service. By the disobe- 
dience of our first parents sin came into the world ; 
and through the obedience of the second Adam, are the 
gates of heaven opened to true believers. The wicked 
are emphatically styled, ^Uhe children of disobedi- 
ence :" and it is clearly the primary object of the Di- 
vine plan of salvation to conquer the rebellious spirit 
of man, and to bring him into a state of humility arid 
submission. Parental authority is one powerful in- 
strument for effecting this change. It is intended to 
bend tlie stubborn will, to repress froward hu!nou!\s, 
and by habituating a child to subjection to earthly pa- 
rents, to pixpare him for Christian obedience to his 
heaveidy Father. In proportion as filial obedience is 
calculated to smooth the way for true religion, filial 
disobedience must produce the opposite effect. The 
parent who habitually gives way to it, has appalling 
reason to apprehend that he is educating his child not 
for heaven, but for hell. His labours for its good m.ay 
be many and great ; but what produce can he expect 



91 

from such a soil ? The heart, poisoned by pride and 
selfishness, will be remo\ed very far indeed from that 
<* honest and good heart/' in which the seed produces 
<^ thirty, sixty, a hundred fold/' I have been induced 
to dwell the longer on this subject, from having ob- 
served many good people fail to require, regularly and 
steadily, prompt obedience from their children. This 
failure pioceeds, I think, principally from that affec- 
tion and that suavity of manners which are the genuine 
fruits of Christianity ; but partly from a perversion of 
the christian tenet, that ^< God alone is the author of 
all good,'' inducing, or rather tempting them to leave 
to Him, with too little effort on their part, as his in- 
struments, the cure of those evils against which they 
find it most irksome to contend. Let them, however, 
recollect, that Jesus Christ, our model, united the most 
determined and invincible resolution with more than hu- 
man love ; and personal exertions almost too great for his 
mortal frame, with perfect reliance on the divine power. 
2. Regularity, — Whoever has observed its high im- 
portance in human concerns, and the natural propensi- 
ty of man to be changeful and desultory, will enforce 
its observance in his system of education. Man is 
formed to attain to far higher powers than those with 
which he is natui*ally endowed, and to reach far high- 
er objects than those which appear to be within his 
grasp. But these can only be obtained by continued 
and progressive efforts, which cany him on from step 
to step, till, from a state litde differing from that of 
the brutes, he arrives at one which exhibits strong 
marks of his divine original, and no slight prognostics 



§2 

of a high destination. In such a course, regularity is 
absohitely necessary. Without it, the greatest human 
exertions will be productive of comparatively little 
good ; and however they may sometimes astonish the 
beholder, they will ratlier resemble the extraordinary 
leaps of a wild animal, than the steady pace of the do- 
mesticated hoi'se, \Ahich carries the rider to the end of 
a long journey. And yet how unwilling is man to sub- 
mit to the rules and restraints indispensable to success 
in his best pursuits ! He is fond of novelty ; fond of 
ease ; and loves, if active, rather to riot in the wanton 
and capricious exercise of his powers ; and, if of a 
quiet disposition, rather to waste them in sloth, than to 
make a steady and wel!-dire€ted use of them, and reap 
the ricli fruit of their legitimate exertion. To coun- 
teract this proi:^nsity, and give the habits a right di- 
rection, must be one of the objects of education. But 
this work must be carried on with moderation, and, 
for a few of the fii'st years of the period under review, 
the parent must be content to let regularity be inter- 
rupted by a variety of little' circumstances already no- 
ticed, when its observance would be particularly try- 
ing to the child ; but it ought to be his endeavour to 
shorten this period as much as he properly can, and at 
length to reduce his system to strict order and method. 
The hours of business must be regular, and the lessons 
regular ; regulaily got, and regularly said. This reg- 
ularity will be found not more favourable to the acquir- 
ing of knoAvledge, than to the subduing of selfishness, 
and the wayward humours wiiich attend it, and to the 
growth of self-command and scMVdenial, and to th? 



practical elevation of a sense of duty above all the al- 
lurements of external objects or vagrant fancies. 

3. Mtention. — It consists in a steady employment of 
the mind on the business immediately before it. It is 
surprising in how great a degree the ability of thus 
chaining down thought to any prescribed object is giv- 
en by a right education, and of what high importance 
it is, not only in many of the walks of science, but in 
the common affairs of life. I once was for several 
weeks with a foreigner of very fair natural abilities, 
but never subjected to the discipline of early study, who 
w^ould often arrive at right conchisions by a kind of 
jump, of which he could give but little explanation, but 
was incapable of fixing his mind on a train of reason- 
ing so as to see the dependence of the several parts, 
each on the otlier. He took considerable pains to ob- 
tain a little mathematical knowledge ; but his thoughts 
were so quick in their movements, and so intractable, 
that I question whether he could be said fully to under- 
stand anyone proposition in Euclid. In giving an ac- 
count of any piece of history which he had been read- 
ing, instead of telling you with some regularity what 
he had found in his author, he drew you a picture of 
his own, lively and often to the purpose, but produced 
by illustrations and analogies, and a sort of theatrical 
exhibition, and not by a narration of consecutive facts. 
Through the general diffusion of regular education in 
this country among those with whom we associate, I 
suspect that we are apt to look on this intractability of 
thought as a mental disease in a greater degree tlian 
we ought ; and that among savage nations, it is by no 
9 



94 

means uncommon, or rather it is perhaps the ordinary 
state of the human mind. Whether this opinion be 
well founded or not, we shall all agree in deprecating 
such a state of intellect among our children, and be 
anxious to prevent it. Let, then, parents make a point 
of using their children, and especially their daughters, 
whose natural volatility most needs this discipline, not 
only to give their attention to the business in which 
they are engaged, but to listen very early to a little 
reasoning, (at first a very little,) and give a short ac- 
count of the argument they have heard ,• the parent tak- 
ing care that the steps shall follow each other in their 
right order, and that none of them shall be omitted. By 
degrees the arguments may become longer. A skilful 
teacher will select a subject interesting to the pupil, 
who will consider what passes as conversation, and not 
as (what in truth it is) a lesson in which the dulce^- is 
most visible, and the utilej rather concealed. A habit 
of occasionally passing a quarter of an hour in this 
way, and of proceeding on a similar plan, when the 
children give an account of what they have been read- 
ing, and are asked for opinions respecting it, will do 
much towards making them reason methodically, which 
is a great point gained towards reasoning justly, and 
therefore towards acting rationally, as they pass 
through life. We often meet with a person who de- 
clares, that he (or more fi'equently, I am afraid, she) 
cannot understand an argument used in conversation, 
though plain in itself. And why ? Scrutinize a little, 
and you will generally find the true cause to be an iu- 

• Pleasant, f Useful. 



95 

lUsposition to apply the mind with regular attention to 
it; — an indisposition, in fact, to hear a hurtlien which 
has not heen rendered light by the introduction of pro- 
per habits in early years. 

It is almost superfluous to add, that habits of atten- 
tion, besides laying a foundation for usefulness in fu- 
ture life, contribute essentially to the comfort of the 
school-room, and to the moral improvement of the 
scholars. Tliey not only extremely facilitate the acqui- 
sition of knowledge, but do much towards making study 
pleasant, by making it vigorous and productive : they 
thus draw forth the faculties, prevent the tsedium 
which is apt to prey on children in their school-hours, 
when their minds are not fully employed; promote 
self-government ; and do away the temptation to those 
false excuses and pretences, of which idleness seldom 
fails continually to avail itself. 

4. Patience. — Scarcely any disposition is more 
wanted in life than this, and education affords ample 
means of instilling and fostering it. Man is not only 
called to endure many natural evils, and many evils 
brought upon him by his fellow creatures; but in his 
christian warfare with his own innate depravity, he 
must continually mortify his strongest inclinations and 
restrain his fondest wishes. <^ He that will come after 
me, must deny himself, and take up his cross and fol- 
low me.'' <' If ye live after the flesh,'' (that is, ac- 
cording to your own natural desires,) <<ye shall die : 
but if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of 
the body, ye shall live." Eternal life is promised to 
those who seek for it ^«by patient continuance in 



96 

well doing/^ And we are told, that if we would be 
*^ perfect and entire, wanting nothing/^ we must let 
^' Patience have her perfect work/^ Such was *^ the 
good fight of faith," required by our Saviour and his 
Apostles, and such must it be to the end of time. In 
this case, as in every other God makes no demand with 
which he does not enable man to comply. Not only 
the Holy Spirit is ready to aid him, but under the Di- 
vine government he is placed in circumstances calcu- 
lated to prepare him for obedience to the Divine will. 
Among these circumstances, education is intended by 
the Almighty to hold a distinguished place. And the 
better to render education a powerful instrument for 
the attainment of this end, God has bound parents, not 
only by duty, but also by strong and present interest, 
operating daily and almost hourly, to inculcate patience. 
An impatient child, if not the plague of the house, can 
scarcely fail to be the plague of himself and of his in- 
structer. How happens it then, that this fault is so fre- 
quently suffered to prevail among children ? Because 
the parent is often impatient hiniself ; and this fault 
will completely frustrate all his efforts to conquer impa- 
tience in his child. He is also often self-indulgent, and 
his interest, however great and apparent, will not in- 
duce him to take the trouble requisite to subdue a fault, 
which incessantly reappears, and calls for his unre- 
mitting attention. Perhaps, too, he persuades himself 
that wayward fits and cross humours must be tolerated 
in children, but that they will give way to good sense 
and maturer principles at a future period, 

'•Vain reason all, and false philosophy !" 



97 

Such a plea will not stand a moment before the max-> 
im of the wise king of Israel : '^ Train up a child ia 
the way he should go.'' From whatever cause the 
failure of a parent in promoting and enforcing patience 
in his young charge may arise, let him count the cost. 
Let him recollect the speedy flight of time, and view 
the precious months and years of childhood, when his 
parental power is in full vigour, and the youthful mind 
pliable and docile, sliding swiftly away, never to re- 
turn. Does he think habits of impatience will not 
strengthen by indulgence ? Or that he shall find it 
more easy to make a salutary and deep impression on the 
mind of the academician, aspiring to all the privileges 
of manhood ; or of the sturdy school -boy, who, during 
three parts of the year, is out of his sight ; than on 
that of a playful child, always with him, and conscious 
of entire dependence upon him? But his reliance is 
on the boy's future good sense and good principles. 
Miserable reliance ! — and indulged at the expense of 
parental duty. Good sense and good principles maij^ 
in after life, effect, by God's blessing, a change of 
temper. But with what reason can a parent trust to 
a future change, while at present he suffers a child's 
judgment to be clouded by passion, and his practice to 
be at variance with good principles ? And how, with- 
out a very offensive presumption, can he hope that God 
will in some other way confer an advantage on his 
child, which he himself has not endeavoured to obtain 
for him by the appointed means of a good education ? 
5. Alacrity. — A lesson may be got and said with obe- 
dience, regularity, attention, patience, and yet in the 
9# 



9§ 

sight of God be got and said very ill. God ^^ loveth a 
cheerful giver -P and not less a cheerful scholar* He 
requires that the heart shall do him homage and wil- 
lingly join in the performance of all our duties : and 
he accepts of nothing as true service done to him, 
which is done '' grudgingly and of necessity.*' Hence 
the supreme importance of leading children, on chris- 
tian grounds, to go through their school-business with 
alacrity. How much this will also smooth the path of 
the teacher, and by drawing forth energy and giving 
life to ingenuity, promote the progress, and conduce 
to the happiness, of the scholar, is apparent. So true 
is it, in this as in every thing, that ^' godliness has the 
promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which 
is to come/* The disposition which we are consider- 
ing crowns all those which have been mentioned, at 
the same time that it Is dependent upon them. This 
queen of school-room graces will shun the spot where 
harsh and violent means are employed to secure them. 
The discipline by which tliey are enforced must be 
mild, rational and enlightened ; and all the honest arts 
the parent can devise must be employed to ward oflf 
temptations to evil, to lighten them when unavoidable, 
and to smooth the path of right conduct. 

And now let parents form to themselves an idea of 
a young family, in the main obedient, regular, atten- 
tive, patient and cheerful in their school-hours, and 
contrast it with another of opposite habits and disposi- 
tions ; and let them say whether the qualifications 
which have bc?n mentioned will not amply repay any 
pains which can be taken to promote them, even if the 



99 

present comfort and reputation of themselves and of 
their children were alone considered. Let them say 
whether, even in this limited view, such fruits are not 
to be classed with the most valuable a school- room ran 
produce. But when they further consider, that sever- 
al of them are strictly of celestial origin, and prepare 
those who possess them for eternal bliss ; how unspeak- 
ably will they value them — how unwearied will they 
be in their cultivation ! 

I am almost afraid, lest the foregoing view of the 
happy effects of a proper education, under the blessing 
of God, should lead parents to expect too much from 
their labours, and to be disheartened when they experi- 
ence important failures. They will assuredly meet with 
muc h forgetfulness in their children, many instances of 
negligence, with some capricious fancies, and some 
cross humours : and perhaps, in their young family, 
they may meet with individuals on whom it may be 
exceedingly diflScult to engraft one or other of the five 
qualities which have been mentioned. But let them 
not be discouraged. A deep sense of their own frailty 
and propensity to evil, notwithstanding all the grace 
of God may have done for them ; and a recollection 
that these same qualities, IcvSS corrected perhaps by di- 
vine grace, are inherent in their children ; should lead 
them to expect great obstacles, and rather to wonder 
at their success, than at their failures. In fact, how 
could they succeed in any one instance, but for the 
divine aid ? How patiently then, and with what sweet- 
ness of temper, should they bear with diflScuUies and 
hindrances among their children, praying, and wait- 



100 

ing quietly and serenely, for the blessing of God, while 
they steadily and unweariedly continue to employ the 
Hieans which, on full consideration, appear to them to 
be the best in their power ! It is surprising how such 
conduct succeeds in the end ; children altering unac- 
countably for the better, and a bright dawn opening on 
a parent, when he thinks that a long and dark night is 
before him. Under discouraging circumstances, it is 
of the highest importance that he shrmld possess his 
soul in patience, and not suffer his affection to be alien- 
ated from his child. If he fails in these respects, his 
ability to conduct him into the right path will assured- 
ly be weakened, — ^perhaps entirely lost. He will nat- 
urally apply himself with most care to rectify wiiat he 
deems most faulty. But he ought to bear it in mind, 
that in these points the child will find a change most 
difficult. It is here, therefore, that the parent must 
not look for more than a very gradual improvement, 
interrupted probably by relapses and retrogressions, 
and must be particularly on his guard against haste 
and violence. In his other children, or perhaps in 
some parts of the character of the very child who 
causes him great uneasiness, he may find much to cheer 
him. Such cordials (if I may be allowed the term) he 
may freely use, returning thanks for them to the Giver 
of all good ; but let him never forget, that they must 
not lead him to lose sight of the evil existing in his 
family, or relax in his endeavours to remove it. 



101 




CHAP. VI. 

Means for the Support of Parental Authority and Infiu- 
ence. — Rewards and Punishments. 

Having mentioned the objects to be kept in view in 
education, it may now be proper to say something on 
the means which it is the duty of a parent to employ to 
make his authority respected, and to influence the minds 
of his children. 

Of these means, rewards and punishments first de- 
mand our attention. Various theoretic discussions 
have taken place respecting the propriety of employing 
them in education. I shall neither examine nor pro- 
duce any theories on this subject, but found what I 
advance on the Divine example and the Divine com- 
mand, which, I apprehend, will be far safer guides than 
any theory; and guides far better suited to those per- 
sons who have the management of children — persons 
generally much better qualified to follow a plain rule 
than a philosophical speculation. In the government 
of this our world, God manifestly employs rewards aiid 
punishments. They are held out to influence his crea- 
tures, and lead them to the performance of their duty, and 
to their true happiness. The punishments are used 
reluctantly, and for the purpose of humbling the mind, 
and leading it to give up forbidden objects and flv to 
its God. The rewards are most freely ofiered to those 



102 

who will receive them with a right disposition of heart, 
manifested by right conduct towards the gracious Do- 
nor ; and are intended to promote and cherish, as well 
as to bless, such a disposition. They produce their ef- 
fect partly by a sense of their value j but more by ex- 
citing in the bosoms of those on whom they are bes- 
towed, a gratitude for the boon, and a love for the 
Giver. These dispositions will be proportionate to 
their conviction of their own demerit, and of the Di- 
vine goodness ; and when they have taken root in the 
heart, they become the most powerful motives to all 
christian virtue : they constrain the man, as it were, 
to live unto his God, and be a new creature in his ser- 
vice. 1 should trespass improperly on your indul- 
gence, were I to quote passages to prove points which 
are clear from the general tenor of Scripture, and will 
be at once admitted.^ 

The parent, in training his child to christian virtue, 
will do well to study diligently the Divine plan for pro- 
motiiig the same great object among men, and to fol- 
low it as closely as the nature of the case will admit. 
He will find the precepts on education in the Sacred 
Volume, to teach his offspring — to guide them — to ex- 
act obedience from them — to command them— to cor- 
rect them — but yet to <• forbear threatening,'' and not 
discourage them, best illustrated by that plan, with 
which they are evidently in harmony. 

How then should punishment be employed ? Al- 
ways reluctantly, and as sparingly as circumstances 

• 2 Cor V. 14. See also, Eph. i. 3 ; 1 Tim. ii. 13, 17 ; IJohn 
iv. 18, 19; Rev. i. 5, 6.— vi. 6, 12, 13. 



103 

will allow, and in such a manner, and with such ac- 
companiments, that while it deters from sin, it may 
bring the mind into a state to be duly influenced by 
other and better motives. 

And how should rewards be employed ? With pleas- 
ure, and far more freely, as incentives to good; but still 
with a guard against their giving rise to habits of self- 
indulgence or prodigality ; and with a constant recol- 
lection, that their highest use is to lead to the perform- 
ance of duty from the more elevated motives of grati- 
tude and affection. — It will be necessary to consider 
the heads of this general outline more particularly. 

Punishments should be employed reluctantly. Will 
any one dispute this position ? And yet how often are 
they inflicted in such a way, that there is not only no 
reluctance apparent, but they appear to afford positive 
gratification ! It would give me pain to describe scenes 
which I have witnessed, when a child has been under 
the correction of a passionate or ill-humoured parent; 
nay, even of a parent, in general character, neither 
passionate nor ill-humoured, but out of temper at the 
time. Certainly, punishment under such circumstan- 
ces takes a most offensive form, and is often likely to 
do much more harm than good. Let all of us who are 
parents (and I apply this sentiment very feelingly to 
myself,) take the utmost care that our children shall 
have no cause to think, that it is partly for our ^^ own 
pleasure" that we correct them, and not entirely (after 
the example of God) for their *^ profit/' that they ^^ may 
be partakers of his holiness/' I will not dwell on 
this subject : it is a painful one, whether we contem- 



104 

plate the parent or the child ; but it is one which ought 
to engage the most serious consideration, and excite 
the earnest prayers, of all who wish to do their dutj" 
to their children. None, perhaps, stand in more need 
of close attention to it, than those who are most anxious 
to omit no part of that duty; since they will feel the 
faults of their children most keenly, and therefore may 
be most liable to have their tempers ruffled by them. 

Punishment should be employed as sparingly^ as is 
compatible with the attainment of its ends. It is in it- 
self an evil ; and is attended by several bad consequen- 
ces, which are comparatively of slight importance when 
it seldom occurs, but become truly formidable on its 
frequent repetition. These are the effects to be ap- 
prehended on the temper of the child, on its affections, 
and (m its principles of action, and consequently on its 
conduct. Its temper and its affection for its parent are 
very likely to suffer during the infliction of punish- 
ment, or the immediate dread of it ; and if such sea- 
sons often recur, they will afford a degree of perma- 
nence to feelings, which would otherwise be incidental 
and transient, and counteracted by the general harmo- 
ny and happy intercourse existing between the parent 
and child. On their deplorable nature, when they be- 
come habitual, I need say nothing : every parent will 
feel it. The child will also suffer with respect to its 
principles of action ; for, in proportion as it is influenc- 
ed in its daily conduct by fear of punishment, it acts 
from the motives which govern a slave ; and these mo- 
tives will be followed by the dispositions and vices of a 
slave, (except so far as they are counteracted by other 



105 

and better motives, and their attendant virtues,) which 
are selfishness, meanness, deceit, and a propensity to 
tjranny and cruelty. The danger of these evils, and 
of those mentioned before, appaling as they are, must 
be encountered, when frequent punishment is necessa- 
ry ; but surely every advisable method should be taken 
to avoid or to lessen that necessity. 

This view of punishment strongly shows the proprie- 
ty of employing it, when unhappily it is indispensable, 
in such a manner, and with such accompaniments, as 
may disarm it as much as may be of its mischief, and 
lead the mind to higher motives. First, then, as blows 
and stripes brutalize and harden more than other pun- 
ishments, let them, if practicable, be avoided. They 
appeal to mere corporal feeling, without that mixture of 
reflection and moral feeling which most other punish- 
ments even of a corporal nature tend to excite. During 
an imprisonment within a room or a house, a boy will 
probably be led to think ; but, during a whipping he 
seldom reflects. The diSerence is also apparent, when 
the alternative is between a whipping and some fine or 
privation. — Another evil attending blows and stripes is, 
that they not only so occupy the mind by corporal suf- 
fering as to leave little or no room for other motives : 
but they are apt to discompose the minds both of pa-» 
rent and child, and unfit the one to urge such motives, 
and the other to attend to them in a proper manner, 
and with a prospect of advantage. This is a most im- 
portant consideration. In proportion as motives of a 
higher kind can be mixed with those of a lower, they 
tend extremely to qualify the evil which arises from 
10 



106 

the latter. Greatly, then, ought modes of punishment 
to he avoided which, while they press most severely on 
our animal nature, afford the least room for the influ- 
ence of higher principles. — After all, in some cases, 
nothing will answer the purposes of punishment hut blows 
and stripes. These cases, however, w^ill seldom, if ever, 
occur, I apprehend, in families where education has 
been properly conducted. Wherever they do occur, 
they ought to be treated with great calmness and delib- 
eration : and punishment ought to be accompanied by 
a clear exposition to the culprit of the necessity of its 
use, in consequence of other means having been found 
ineffectual, and by a deep and cordial expression of 
concern, that such a punishment should be necessary ; 
— and the infliction should be solemn, but not such as 
to excite overwhelming terror, which would obliterate 
any impression made by the preceding conversation, 
and aggravate evils without a corresponding benefit. 
After the punishment, great pains ought to be taken to 
derive every attainable advantage from it, to remedy 
any evils it may have produced, and to prevent the ne- 
cessity of its repetition. With this view, the parent 
should conduct himself towards his child with openness 
and affection, and show^ that he has a pleasure in giv- 
ing him rewards for good conduct, in gratifying his 
innocent wishes, and in consulting his happiness. But 
this must be done with moderation and simplicity; and 
care must be taken that the child shall not be led to 
think that the parent is making his peace with him, or 
granting him indulgences merely because he has been 
punished. When the child^s mind is tranquillized. 



107 

and his affections appear to flow in their usual course, 
the parent should avail himself of good opportunities of 
convincing the child of his former sin and foUy, of the 
unseemliness of his fault, and the heauty of the opposite 
virtue, and of the pain occasioned not to the child oidy, 
but to the parent himself, by the infliction of the pun- 
ishment ; and this pain should be contrasted with the 
happiness all would have enjoyed, had the child behav- 
ed well. He should do his utmost also to make the 
child feel the force of higher motives ; the pleasure 
which attends the performance of duty and the appro- 
bation of relations; and, above all, the peace which 
passeth understanding, and the bright sunshine of soul 
which flow from the favour of God, as foretastes of the 
everlasting joys reserved for those who yield them- 
selves to the guidance of his Holy Spirit, and are re- 
newed in his image. At the same time, temptations to 
former faults should be lessened as much as possible, 
the beginnings of evil should be carefully watched and 
immediately checked, and every endeavour should be 
used to make the progress in good, easy and pleasant. 
It is unnecessary to go into details on other punish- 
ments. They ought to be employed in a siniilar spirit, 
and with similar precautions, due regard being had to 
their nature and probable effects. 

I should be much concerned, if what I have said on 
punishments should lead any parent to omit to employ 
then), when necessary. Every method should be used 
to prevent or lessen the necessity ; but when really 
wanted, they imist be inflicted.^ In such cases, the 

♦ But too much self-command and firmness, tempered by mode, 
ration, cannot be exercised. 



108 

omission of the punishment is an evil of the first magni- 
tude. Much as I deprecate a severe system in educa- 
tion, I fully agree w^ith an approved author, that one of 
indulgence is more to be dreaded. If we listen to the 
Divine command, we shall not spoil the child by spar- 
ing the rod. If we copy the Divine example, we shall 
not be led by any inducements to acquiesce in what is 
wrong. If we have a predominant hatred of sin and 
love of holiness, our very feelings will prevent us from 
doing so. Our principles and inclinations will alike 
impel us to act with vigour and perseverance in com- 
bating evil in our families. No parental fondness, no 
love of personal ease, will prevail with us to give up 
the contest. While our conduct exhibits mildness and 
gentleness, it will be as strongly marked by firmness 
and decision. 

Let not any parent fear the loss of his child's affec- 
tion fi om proper strictness in education, when combin- 
ed with the other parts of the course I am recommend- 
ing. I am convinced that, on the contrary, the child's 
love for him will be increased by such strictness make- 
ing a part of his system. Without it, there will be less 
esteem, perhaps no esteem, for the parent; and it is 
unnecessary to show, how very greatly esteem contri- 
butes to real affection ; so greatly indeed that I believe 
an attempt to obtain genuine affection by indulgence 
will not only fail, but will produce the opposite effect. 
Indulgence will foster selfishness and sensuality, and 
with them hardness of heart. A person whom you 
indulge will often love to be with you, will cling to you, 
and show great fondness? but cease to indulge, an4 



109 
comparative coldness and indifference will quickly fol- 
low. Does not this change prove that self was at the 
bottom of former appearances, and was the chief if not 
the only object of affection ? Can we wonder at such 
a result ? God's blessing accompanies the performance 
of duty ; his displeasure its omission. With his bless- 
ing all things will work together for good. With his 
displeasure, what can be expected but disappointment 
and evil ? 

I should enlarge somewhat more on this very im- 
portant subject, though conscious that I have already 
detained my readers long upon it, had there not ap- 
peared, in the Christian Observer for January 1813, 
two letters which throw light on tlie point before us, 
as well as on others of high impoi'tance in education, 
and possess the advantage of showing, as it were, gen- 
eral rules reduced to practice. These letters, with a 
short one explanatory of the occasion on which they 
were written, are inserted in an Appendix. 

Rewards are an engine in the haiuls of a parent, 
which he will employ with pleasure, — a pleasure which, 
while it sweetens his own labours, will increase the af- 
fection of his child, by showing wiiat an interest he 
takes in his happiness, and will impart double value to 
the gift he may bestow. To give churlishly or grudg- 
ingly w^ould be so monstrous, that nothing need be said 
to prevent such practice ; but I have not seldom thoug'it 
that I have seen rew^ards bestowed on children in a 
manner somewhat ungracious, and consequently receiv- 
ed with far less pleasure than would otherwise have 
been excited, and, what is more important, with little 



110 

or no appearance of gratitude to the donor. Surely 
this mode of giving ought to be carefully avoided. We 
all know how very greatly our feelings, on receiving a 
present, depend on the manner in which it is offered 
to us. W»n ' . be supposed, that the sensibility of chil- 
dren is le. .. alive on such occasions ? But there are 
errors more common and more prejudicial. Rewards 
are often of such a nature as to nourish sensuality, 
prodigality, or (especially in girls) vanity ; and still 
more frequently no care is taken to instil into the child, 
that they are not to be considered principally as means 
of personal gratification, but rather as means of use- 
fulness and sources of bounty. If we would avoid 
these evils, it is apparent that the gratification of the 
palate should not be consulted, and that showy articles 
of dress and unmeaning toys are not good rewards. 
Still less is money, (especially much of it,) when it is 
to be spent just as the child pleases. But whatever is giv- 
en, children should be early taught that they are trus- 
tees under God ; and that an employment of what they 
receive from u.eir parents or others in a w^ay pleasing 
to him, while it will obtain his favour, will also sweeten 
all their enjoyments. They will be easily made to feel 
this, if some pains are taken to select objects of bounty 
whom they love, or with whom they will readily sym- 
pathize; and to point out little purchases, as proper 
books, or tools, or useful toys, which may lead to their 
improvement, or exercise their ingenuity, or promote 
active exertion, at the same time that they afford pleas- 
ure. Thus their little property, instead of administer- 
ing to frivolity and other vicious propensities, may 



Ill 

contribute Tcry materially to the invigorating of theiir 
bodily and mental powers, tlie forming of their dispo- 
sitions, and, above all, to their being early trained in 
the most important, perhaps, of all habits, that of view- 
ing all they possess as not their own, '^ God's, and 
that of always associating pleasure with u^ty, and of 
considering the former as not only unhallowed in it- 
«elf, but as wanting its best ingredient, and scarcely to 
deserve its name, when severed from the latter. 

But the highest and noblest use of rewards is to 
raise the soul to its proper elevation, to give noble and 
generous motives their due influence over it, and to 
emancipate it from a thraldom to those of an inferior 
kind. The former are, gratitude and love to God, the 
Giver of all good ; and to parents and other benefac- 
tors, his vicegerents on earth, in its distribution. The 
latter are, a love of pleasure, and an aversion to pain. 
In proportion as the first predominate, selfishness is 
counteracted ; and we are led to the contemplation, and 
love and imitation of the adorable perfections of the 
Divine Nature. A human being, in Witom the last are 
the ruling principle, is shut up, as it were, within the 
narrow bounds of self and will be engaged in studying 
tlie gratification of tliose mean and grovelling disposi- 
tions which he brought into the world. He will re- 
main what he was originally, " earthly, sensual, devil- 
ish," •< a lover of pleasure rather than a lover of God." 
How indispensable, then, is it to lead the youthful 
mind to look beyond the mere possession of a reward, 
and of the gratifications it can bestow ; to direct its 
view to the love of the immediate donor, and, above 



lis 

all, to the love of Him who put that love into the do- 
nor's heart, and conferred upon him all his ability to 
be bountiful, and created tlie very thing which the 
child has received from his bounty ! Parental endeav- 
ours to give a child such views will naturally be ac- 
companied by an exposition of the Divine holiness and 
justice, and of the impossibility of the unholy being 
permanently the objects of Divine love. The wisdom 
of God will also be described as opening to his view 
every recess of the human heart ; and his powder as 
making it impossible to escape the punishment, or lose 
the blessings, he appoints. Thus his whole character 
will be brought before the child ; and those attributes 
wbich would be most likely to be repulsive, coming, as 
it were, in the train of love and bounty, will be awful 
without producing horror ; and by the Divine help, af- 
fection and veneration will be excited in harmonious 
union in his bosom. Oh, the joy of heart to the 
parent, who sees his child enter upon the blessed path 
which is to lead him to his God ! Let him spare no 
pains in conducting him forward in it, in smoothing it 
to his steps, and in shielding him from seduction to the 
right or left. He must not hope to effect his object by 
set lectures, at stated times. They would, not improb- 
ably, disgust rather than benefit ; and even if they 
couUl be made agreeable and impressive, they would 
be forgotten in the hour of temptation. His object can 
only be attained by watching the little incidents of the 
day and taking advantage of them for its promotion. 
This course must be pursued gently, and as pleasantly 
as possible to the child ; but always by means wldch 



113 

God will approve, and with a deep sense of the infinite 
importance of the end in view. There must be no flat- 
tery, no deceit, no superficial healing of spiritual 
wounds ; but zeal and honesty must be combined with 
due allowances for the weakness, tenderness, and vola- 
tility of a child, and with patience, benignity and love. 
If the letters in the Christian Observer, already men- 
tioned, had not appeared, I should have enlarged rath- 
er more on some points connected with this subject, 
than will now be necessary. It may be suflScient to 
say briefly. Let a parent, in pursuing the course wliich 
has been recommended, have recourse to representations, 
appeals, persuasions, and make the best use he can of 
hymns and passages of Scripture, already learnt by the 
child : Let him touch the conscience, awaken shame, 
affiection, gratitude : Let him encourage openness and 
confidence by kindness and sympathy ; and keep back 
the exercise of parental authority as much as he can, 
showing that he wishes not to use it, and that, if oblig- 
ed to do so, he will be influenced solely by a sense of 
duty. But though it is his daily endeavour to copy 
the beautiful forbearance of St. Paul towards Philemon, 
he must guard against laxity and weakness. He must 
not fail through tenderness to tlie child, or from atten- 
tion to his own ease or convenience, dulj to notice the 
faults he may discover. In this respect he must act 
on system, and witl) undeviating consistency and steads 
iness. He will watch against the risings of bad tem- 
pers, and agaijist mere professions; and counteract 
such evih by his own good temper, by his own truth 
and modesty and simplicity, and by turning the eye of 



114 

his child upon his heart, as well as hy more direct, 
though perhaps not more eflScacious means. When the 
child has committed a fault, he will allow time for re- 
covery from incidental agitations, and accept no pro- 
fessions of repentance and good intention, while the 
state of the heart appears doubtful : taking care to im- 
press on the child, that the great object he should have 
in view should be to make his peace with God ; that 
the offence has been an offence against God^ who sees 
the inmost soul. He will feel the high importance of 
the work in which he is engaged, and his own weak- 
ness and insufficiency ; and will put up from time to 
time secret aspirations to God for his blessing on him- 
self, as well as on his child ; and will persevere until 
there is a satisfactory appearance of mild and ingenu- 
ous repentance. Though the child should not be brought 
by his labours to true christian conversion, (for in that 
great work, so peculiarly his own, God will grant cer- 
tainty of success to no human agent,) yet they will not 
fail, I think, to make a salutary impression. A con- 
sciousness of right and wrong will be strengthened j 
fear will become less a principle of action ;and conscience 
will stand more in the pla( e of punishment. His love 
of his parents, and his deference for them, will iricrease: 
good habits will be foimed, and a general respect at 
least for religion will be cherished. He will, in this 
way, undergo an important change. The system under 
winch he is brought up is '' in the nurture and admoni- 
tion of the Lord ;'' and his parent may humbly hope 
that it will be <« a schoolmaster to brirg him to Christ/^ 
With many present disappointments, perhaps as to its 



>^ 



lis 

effects, he may yet humbly hope that its value will be 
deeply felt at some future and more happy period, 
when, under God's providence, the soil is fully prepar- 
ed for the growth of the good seed. Then may that 
sown in childhood shoot up with vigour, and bear abun- 
dant fruit. But very frequently, I am convinced, God 
vouchsafes a more speedy and visible blessing. The 
parent sees the work of genuine regeneration com- 
mence and proceed under his eye in early youth. He 
has the supreme happiness of seeing his child, with 
true submission of heart, look up to his Saviour, and 
put himself under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In 
religion, indeed, as in every thing, the child will be a 
child — ill-informed, weak, wavering, and inconsistent: 
but still there may be satisfactory evidence that he is 
gradually conquering his native corruptions, and be- 
ginning to acquire Christian graces } that he is renew- 
ing in the spirit of his mind, and attaining a portion 
of the image of God. 

It may be proper to add, on the subject of rewards, 
that, in addition to the value they derive from other 
considerations, they possess high importance in cases 
in which punishment must be often employed as anti- 
dotes to the evils which attend it. Without them, (as 
in many publick schools,) punishment has a great ten- 
dency to exasperate and harden; and that to such 
a degree as even to lead the culprit to glory in suffer- 
ing, without shrinking at the time, and without being 
at all affected either before or after. In proportion to 
the horror with which a^hristian parent contemplates 
such obduracy, will he be anxious to prevent every ap- 



116 

proach to it : and it is obvious how much the right em- 
ployment of rewards will assist him in his endeavours, 
by showing his affection, softening the heart of the 
child, and placing it under the influence of a better mo- 
tive than fear. I know a numerous family, in which 
there is seldom a greater punishment inflicted, than the 
withholding of a reward. When this is not sufficient, 
some deduction is generally made from a little proper- 
ty in the parent's hands, consisting of an accumulation 
of rewards. In that family, it is usual, after every 
lesson, to give some number, proportioned to its merit, 
to be added to the numerical sum possessed by the 
child from former rewards. The addition is perform- 
ed by the child, who may incur a known loss of one or 
two, if the calculation should be wrong. These num- 
bers are considered as worth a certain sum, say Is. 
per hundred ; which the child receives for them at the 
established rate, upon application, for any purpose 
which the parent approves.* The remaining numbers, 
not exchanged for money, continue the property of the 
child. — This little detail may appear unnecessary ; but 
education consists of details, and its success depends 
much on their proper selection and management. A 
system of this sort comprises many advantages ; for, 
besides being a regular plan for conferring rewards, it 
makes the child early acquainted with property and 
its uses, and provides for his property being the reward 
of his merit ; and it also places the whole so immedi- 

* One of these tickets (which may be made of common paste- 
board) becomes a suitable punishment to the child, when g-iven up 
•to the parent in consequence of its failure in duty. Amer. En. 



117 

ately under the eye and control of the parent, as to en-. 
able him botli to prevent its abuse and to give any sug- 
gestions as to its employment. It possesses a further 
advantage of some consequence ; that of rendering chil- 
dren adroit in adding and subtracting by the head, 
without this being made a regular object of study. 

I cannot dismiss the consideration of rewards and 
punishments, without cautiojiing parents, on the one 
hand, against the mischief of permitting sei'vants, ex- 
cept in very particular cases, to employ them to any 
considerable extent ; and on the other, against suffer- 
ing those faults and merits of children, which manifest 
themselves in the nursery, to escape due notice. Hav- 
ing already made some remarks on the general char- 
acter of servants, with reference to education, it will 
be unnecessary now to enlarge on that pc^yint. The 
management of punishments is far too delicate to be 
entrusted to s. *^ hands. When a child is very violent, 
he must indeed be put under immediate restraint by 
any one who happens to be present; but servants 
should not be allowed to do more in this way than the 
exigency of the case demands ; and recourse should 
immediately be had to the parents, or, in their absence, 
to those who supply their place. With respect to re- 
wards, servants would probably be lavish, and indis- 
criminate, and capricious in their use, neither guarding 
against the evils to be feared, nor forming any tolera- 
ble estimate of the higher and more durable advanta- 
ges to be derived from them. Something must be al- 
lowed in a nursery in the way both of punishment and 
reward ; but it ought to be confined within very nar- 
11 



118 

row limits. The parents, particularly the mother, 
ahoukl keep a vigilant eye over the course of things 
there, and interfere in person in all cases of importance. 
From several of the preceding observations, it w ill 
be inferred, that very much may be done in inducing 
a child to perform his duty without having recourse to 
rewards and punishments. Appeals to his sense of 
right and wrong, to his gratitude and his love, to his 
dread of the displeasure and desire of the favour of his 
parents, and far more of his Sanctifier, his Saviour, 
and his Heavenly Father : — such appeals, pressed with 
tenderness, but with warmth, and accommodated to 
the age, knowledge, and disposition of the child, will 
be found of great efficacy at a very early age, and will 
become more potent instruments of good in proportion 
as a child advances in knowledge, in right feeling, and 
in sound habits, and, above all, as he obtains more and 
more of the divine blessing. A parent ought, from the 
very commencement of education, to look principally 
to these means of exciting his child <^ to eschew evil, 
and to do good ;'' and should consider rewards and 
punishments as inferior and subordinate. How will he 
rejoice to observe the increasing influence of these 
higher and nobler motives, and his child making a 
progress towards that holy state in which they become 
decidedly the paramount principles of action — the un- 
disputed lords of all other principles !— But I must not 
suffer myself to dwell a second time on (his animating 
subject. 



119 



CHAP. VII. 



Example.— Emulation.— Effect of personal Character of 
Parents. — Deceit. 

X HERE is one additional stimulus to be used with 
children : it is that of example. — We all know how 
powerfully this is recommended as a source of good by 
our holy religion. Jesus, our Saviour, ^^ was given us 
as an example, that we should follow his steps." 
What Christian, who contemplates that blessed Exam- 
ple with holy affection, and who feels a warm grati- 
tude for the unutterable condescension of his Divine 
Master, in affording to him this help in his spiritual 
course, will not exert himself to give his children all 
the benefit he can, from the example, not only of 
Christ, but of those who, however inferior, are yet his 
true servants ! He will extend his view further, and^ 
from the mass of characters of a lower description, he 
will select examples to be placed before his children. 
Here, indeed, he will proceed with much caution, and 
employ much discrimination. But as he will observe, 
even among persons of this class, many who are emi- 
nent for some amiable disposition, or useful habit, or 
praise-worthy attainment, so he will not fail to draw 
the attention of his pupil to them ; and in pointing out 
to him what may be effected by the force of very infe- 
rior motives, he will impress on his mind what ought 
to be the efficacy of those which flow from the religion 



]2D 

of Christ. He will also hold out, but v ith more re- 
luctance and reserve, not only those who are, in the 
most em})haticai sense, vicious characters, but also 
those w!io have grossly neglected means of improve- 
ment, and tliose whose conduct, w hether through error 
or thoughtlessness, is absurd or mischievous, as w^arn- 
ings to deter from like courses. There are many and 
great advantages in conveying instruction in this way. 
What is holy, estimable, and amiable, or the reverse, 
will be better understood, and especially by children, 
wUen exhibited in action, than when described in the 
abstract. It will also be far more likely, according to 
its real quality, to engage the affections, or create dis- 
gust and abhorrence, when so exhibited ; for it is a gen- 
eral, though by no means an universal, truth, that, to 
an unsopliisticated mind^ virtue in active life will be 
lovely, and vice hateful. A parent will take care, at 
first, to select instances for his child^s observation, in 
which these appear clearly in their appropriate col- 
ours ; and afterwards, when his estimate of things be- 
comes pretty just, and his taste tolerably correct, the 
parent will venture, by degrees, to call his attention to 
other instances, in which good and bad qualities or 
habits are so intermixed as to lead a careless observer 
to wrong conclusions, affording to his pupil the benefit 
of his own experience in developing and separating the 
component parts of such characters, and in assigtiing 
to each due praise or blame. Such representations will 
obtain a more easy admission into the youthful mind, 
if accompanied by proofs of the tendency of virtue to 
promote happiness, and vice misery. This tendency 



121 

must be shown, not in any abstract way, but by point- 
ing out effects of this kind in the individual instances 
which come under review. If, on such occasions, ten- 
derness, and delicacy, and discrimination are combined 
with warmth and feeling, the child will listen with 
much interest, and the parent may hope for God's bles- 
sing, and for excellent fruits from this very pleasant 
branch of education. 

In this course, however, there are serious evils to be 
avoided. 

Praise and blame must be dealt out with moderation^ 
and often with diffidence. — No human being can be en- 
titled to more than moderate praise ; and no man who 
aspires to love his neighbour as himself, will think him- 
self warranted in unlimited or unguarded censure, or 
will feel a disposition to employ it. To be prone to 
extremes in forming a judgment of others, is alw^ays 
foolish, and often highly presumptuous and offensive. 
Woe be to the parent who leads his child into this er- 
ror. Next to the child himsell, he may be the great- 
est sufferer from so doing. 

He must also be careful not to foster in the child a 
fastidious or captious, or even a critical spirit. Let 
him never fail to inculcate, that the first and great bu- 
siness of every individual is to do his own duty ; and 
that, though there are many reasons for endeavouring 
to form a true estimate of the character and conduct of 
others, yet this estimate must always be formed with 
modesty and charity, and with a recollection that we 
are not tlieir judges ; to their own Master they must 
stand or fall. If, indeed, children should be unhappily 
11# 



e3:posed to such intercourse with those whose tempers 
or liabits are blameable, and likely to mislead them, 
no motive of this nature will justify a parent in neg- 
lecting to guard them against the evils to be appre- 
hended. He must hold up the persons in question as 
warnings before the eyes of his family* 

Further ; he must hold out examples to his child in 
such a way as not to excite emulation. — To imitate an 
example is one thing : to rival any person, and endea- 
vour to obtain a superiority over him, is another. It 
is very true, as is maintained by the defenders of em- 
ulation, that it is impossible to make progress towards 
excellence without outstripping others. But surely 
there is a great difference between the attainment of a 
superiority over others, being a mere consequence of 
exertions arising from other motives, and a zeal to at- 
tain this object, being itself a motive for exertion. Ev- 
ery one must see, that the effects produced on the mind 
in the two cases will be extremely dissimilar. Emu- 
lation is a desire of surpassing others, for the sake of 
superiority, and is a very powerful motive to exer- 
tion. As such, it is employed in most public schools ; 
but in none, I believe, ancient or modern, has it been 
so fully and systematically brought into action, as in 
the schools of Dr. Bell and Mr. Lancaster. Whatev- 
er may be the merits of the schools of either of these 
gentlemen in other respects, (a question on which it 
is unnecessary to enter,) in this they appear to me to 
commit such an offence against christian morals, that 
no merits could atone for it.* I cannot but think em- 

* We are happy in believingi> that since the publication of 



123 

ulation an unhallowed principle of action ; — as scarce- 
ly, if at all, to be disjoined from jealousy and envy, 
from pride and contention ; — incompatible with loving 
our neighbour as ourselves ; and a principle of such 
potency as to be likely to engross the mind, and turn 
it habitually and violently from the motives which it 
should be the great business of education to cherish 
and render predominaiit ; namely, a sense of duty, and 
gratitude and love to God, Instead of enlarging on 
this subject, I beg leave to refer the reader to Mr. 
Gisborne's remarks upon it, in his " Duties of AVo- 
men/' If emulation is an unhallowed motive, it can- 
not innocently be employed, whatever good effects may 
be expected from it. >Ye must not do evil that good 
may come. But if any chiistian should deem it not 
absolutely unhallowed, few will deny, I think, that it is 
questionable and dangerous. Even then, in this more 
favourable view of emulation, ought it to be used, ex- 
cept it can be shown to be necessary for the infusion 
of vigour into the youthful mind, and for securing a 
respectable progress in literature ? I can say, from 
experience, that it is not necessai-y for the attainment 
of those ends. In a numerous family with which I am 
well acquainted, emulation has been carefully and suc- 
cessfully excluded, and yet the acquirements of the dif- 
ferent children have been very satisfactory. 1 can 
bear the same testimony with respect to a large Sun- 

this work In En.^land, ten years ago, there have beem many im- 
provements in Mr. Lancaster's system of education, and that un- 
der its present appearance it meets with decided approbation in 
this country. 



1^4 

day School with which I have been connected for many 
years. — I have often heard of virtuous emulation ; but 
can emulation ever be so characterised in a christian 
sense ? Whether it may, in that loose sense of virtue 
which those adopt who take the worldly principle of 
honour for their rule, I will not stop to inquire. 

But it is not sufficient not to excite and employ emu- 
lation on plan and system, as a stimulus in education ; 
great care ought to be taken ta exclude it. And great 
care will be necessary ; for it will be continually ready 
te show itself; and if not checked, it will soon attain 
strength, strike its roots deep in the heart, and produce 
bitter fruits, which, in the eyes of a Christian, will be 
ill-compensated by the extraordinary vigour and energy 
it will give to scholastic studies. When examples are 
held out for imitation^ (a very different thing, be it al- 
ways renoembered, from emulation^) or as warnings, 
the child must be made sensible that its state in the 
sight of God is rendered neither better nor worse by 
the virtues or the faults of others, except so far as they 
may have influenced, or may have failed to influence, 
its own conduct j that it ought to love its neighbour as 
itself, and to rejoice in every advance made by anoth- 
er in what is good, and to lament over all his faults 
and defects, without one selfish thought being suffered 
to check the joy or the concern ; — that it ought there- 
fore to wish all its companions all success in their com- 
mon studies with the same sincerity with which it 
wishes for its own success, and to be affected by their 
faults and failures in the same manner it would be by its 
own. It should be made sensible, in proportion as it 



125 

may give way to feelings the reverse of these, that its 
'• eye will be evil because others are good ;'^ and it will 
act ill opposition to the injunction, " Mind not every 
one his own things, but every one also the things of 
others ;" and to a whole host of scriptural precepts and 
examples. These things must be inculcated, not by 
lectures in general terms, but by applying such views 
to all tlie little incidents which call for them as they 
successively arise. The child must also be made sen- 
sible how much better it is for himself that his com- 
panions should be eminent for laudable attainments, 
and good qualities ; for that, in proportion to their ex- 
cellence in these respects, they will be useful and esti- 
mable companions, and ought to be objects of his af- 
fection. All little boasts of having done better than 
this or that brother or sister, and every disposition to 
disappointment when they succeed best, should be check- 
ed, and the lesson of '' rejoicing with them that do re- 
joice^ and of weeping with them that weep^^ must be 
very diligently iiK^ulcated.* 

Lastly, a parent must take special care always to 
give the examjile of Jesus Christ a most decided practical 
pre'eminence above all others.— It is this to which the 
child's attention must be continually turned ; it is this 
which he must be taught equally to love and to revere : 
it is this alone on which he should learn to rely, with 
unvarying confidence, as always pure and perfect. In 

* The foreg-oing opinions on Emulation have been controvert- 
ed by a writer in the Christian Observer ; and this important sub- 
ject is likely to undergo much useful discussion in that respecta- 
ble publication. 



126 

addition to the more direct and immediate benefits be 
will derive from thus flying to the example of his Sav- 
iour for guidance in his christian path, he wiU, by the 
divine blessing, be powerfully led to love Him, whose 
blessed image is so frequently before his eyes. He will 
obtain that near acquaintance with his perfections--* 
that frequent intercourse, as it were, with himself — 
which call forth increasing admiration, and reverence, 
and regard. Thus will commence a transformation 
into a similitude of that excellence which has found a 
way to his heart : and, " beholding as in a glass the 
glory of the Lord,'^ he will be ^^ changed into the same 
image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the 
Lord.'^ 

But all endeavours to make right impressions on the 
mind of a child will very generally be found ineffectual, 
if the character of the parent does not correspond with 
his instructions, and inspire his child with esteem and 
aflfection. It is surprising how God honours his own 
image among men. Faint as it is, even in the best, still 
its proximity gives it effect, and it exercises a portion of 
his own sovereign power over the hearts of his creatures. 
This has been found to be the case in a remarkable man- 
ner among savage and idolatrous nations, w hen holy 
men have lived for a length of time among them as 
Missionaries. Every one must be struck with the ef- 
fect produced by living examples of the christian gra- 
ces, on reading accounts of the Moravian Missions^ 
and still more, perhaps, when, in the history of India, 
he finds what a wonderful ascendency the holy Swartz 
obtained over the Hindoos of all ranks, from the high- 



127 

4?st to the lowest. But it is nnnecessary to look so far 
from home, to be convinced of this truth. We every 
clay see it exemplified among ourselves in the respect 
and affection which good men generally acquire, when 
their light has long shone before tbe same neighbour- 
hood. If the beauties of the christian character thus 
recommend themselves to persons of mature age, whose 
evil habits are often so confirmed, and whose tastes are 
so vitiated, it will not be matter of wonder that they 
should have peculiar charms for the minds of children. 
Let a parent exhibit this character with consistency 
and prudence, and he will seldom fail to be loved and 
revered by his ciiildren. And when this is the case, 
what authority will belong to his example ! what weight 
to all his admonitions ! what ready attention will be 
paid to his very wishes ! The difficulties of education 
will be wonderfully smoothed. Ill-humour, distaste to 
particular studies, impatience under restraints, eye- 
service and deceit, a disposition to look on a parent as 
a hard master, not to mention other evils, will be in a 
very great degree avoided. If it may be allowed to use 
the Prophet's language, ** crooked places will be made 
straight, and rough places plain.'' But in proportion 
as a parent fails to resemble in character that Divine 
Being who appoints him, as it were, his vicegerent in 
his family, this picture will fail to be realized ; and in 
the worst cases it will be reversed. Let, then, every 
parent look well to himself. — Having touched on this 
most important subject, when treating of education at 
an earlier age, I will not enlarge on it now. I cannot, 
however, omit to mention an incident, which (thanks to 



128 

God !) made a very salutary impression on me many 
years ago. On entering the schoolroom of a Mora- 
vian family, I saw amidst some appropriate inscriptions 
on the wall, intended as mementos to the children, the 
following one put up by the teacher for her own use : 
^< Never correct in anger/' Much might be expected 
in a young family where the governess was so con- 
scious of the importance of strict watchfulness over her- 
self, as to record, in the face of her scholars, her own 
condemnation, if she shoidd ever suffer herself to be led 
to exercise her authority in one of its most delicate and 
important functions, when disqualified by a want of 
calmness from exercising it properly. Such self-atten- 
tion could not be confined to a single point, but, having 
entered the system, would pervade its different parts. 
My expectations were not disappointed. A more esti- 
mable teacher, and better tauglit, better principled, 
more affectionate, more orderly, and more happy schol- 
ars, I think I never saw. The excellent instructress 
would find, in her own personal improvement, and in 
the gratification she could not fail to derive fiom the 
state of her scholars, and from their respect and love, 
a tenfold recompense for all her resolute self-scrutiny 
and self-denial. Let us follow her steps, and we may 
all humbly hope for a like reward. 

It is my object to propose, for the consideration of 
parents, the general principles in education which ap- 
pear to me to form tlie right f )undation for such details 
in practice, as the endless variety in the dispositions of 
children may require. With one exception, therefore, 
I shall not enter on a consideration of specific faults. 



1£9 

This exception is deceit. — I select this vice, not because 
it is pre-eminent in enormity, but because it cherishes 
all other vices, by opposing itself to the means employ- 
ed for their removal. By the secrecy in which it de- 
lights, and the veil which it casts over the character, 
it prevents evils from being clearly discovered ; and by 
assumifig a fair appearance of repentance when they 
are detected : and sometimes even when they secretly 
exist in great malignity, by making a specious show of 
the opposite virtues, it baffles the endeavours of rela- 
tions to remove them, and completely shuts out genu- 
ine repentance and reformation. While other vices 
pi'edominate in the soul, there are often recurrences of 
deep remorse and earnest prayer, and of very consid- 
erable exertions to conquer them ; but deceit usually 
stifles mental pangs, lulls the soul into a fatal apathy, 
and employs all those energies in riveting its chains 
which ought to be exerted for its deliverance. Other 
vices are, generally, neither present at all times, nor 
regirlar in their return ; but deceit is always at work, 
and scarcely allows of an interval, in which the soul is 
so far relieved from its immediate influence as to be 
in a state to be recovered from its thraldom. No won- 
der, then, that this vice should possess an awful pre- 
eminence in vitiating the character and hardening the 
heart ! In our blessed Saviour^s sev.'^re condemnation 
of the Scribes and Pharisees, where he accuses them of 
almost every species of crime, their hypocrisy is fJaced 
in the very forefront of their offences, and insisted upon 
again and again : ^< Woe unto you. Scribes and Phar- 
iiiees, hypocrites !'^ How anxious, then, should a \mv- 
12 



130 

ent be to guard every avenue to such a crime, by check- 
ing the first dawnings of art and deceit, whatever ap- 
pearance they may assume, and by encouraging truth,- 
ingenuousness, and simplicity of character in every 
possible way. The child ought to be armed against 
temptations to deceit, by being forewarned on what oc- 
casions they will present themselves, and instructed by 
what means they are to be resisted. He should also be 
strongly reminded, when such occasions actually oc- 
cur, of the existing danger : and such a course should 
be pursued by the parent as to facilitate his escape. 
Thus, when a fault has been committed, or a little dif- 
ference with a play- fellow has occurred, and an ex- 
planation is required by the parent, great care should 
be taken to remind the child of the duty of truth and 
ingenuousness, and to check that eagerness and haste, 
in the relation of circumstances which will be likely to 
lead him to give a false colour to them. The danger 
of his palliating some things, and exaggerating others, 
should be pointed out ; and while he is kindly warned 
how grievously his fault (if he should have committed 
one) would be aggravated by such conduct, the loveli- 
ness of truth and candour in the eyes both of God and 
man, and especially under trying circumstances, should 
be set before him, and he should receive every proper 
encouragement to adhere to them. When he has done 
his duty in this respect, whatever may have been amiss 
in his preceding conduct should be noticed in as leni- 
ent a manner as is compatible with a full maintenance 
of the distinction between right and wrong, and a due 
sense of the importance of the particular case. He 



131 
should be made to feel how tenderly he is treated on 
account of his candour, and how very different liis 
treatment would have been liad he acted otherwise. 
But, above all, he should be made sensible of the terri- 
ble load of divine wrath which must rest on every cliild 
who endeavours to hide or excuse a fault by lies, pre- 
varication or concealment; of the impossibility of par- 
don without repentance, and of the impossibility of 
cordial repentance when the mouth will not '' make 
confession to salvation/' Then should be described in 
mild and sober, but warm, colours, (warm from the 
lively, parental, and christian impressions whence they 
proceed,) the infinite blessings of an approving con- 
science, and of that peace which passeth all understand- 
ing, arising from a sense of sin forgiven, and of divine 
favour restored, contrasted with the corroding sense 
of unpardoned guilt, and of being subject to the frown 
of an offended God. If the child has been well educat- 
ed, his feelings will readily respond to the notes you 
strike ; and you will see in his countenance and air a 
cordial assent to the scriptural representation, that 
^^ the ways of religion are ways of pleasantness, and 
all her paths are peace,'' and that the wicked has no 
peace, but ^' is like the troubled sea, which cannot 
rest." When a lie has been detected, it should be 
treated as one of the greatest crimes, and every en- 
deavour should be used to fix its guilt on the conscience, 
and lead the culprit to deep and genuine repentance. 
Even much lighter instances of falsehood should meet 
with very serious attention. Pains should be taken to 
point out their connexion with lies, and their deriva- 



132 

tion from t\m same principle, and consequently their 
liatefulness in the sight of God. The conduct which 
ought to have been pursued by the child should be par- 
ticularized, and its beauty and happy consequences 
dwelt uiK)n and contrasted with the deformity of the 
fault which he has committed, and the guilt, and re- 
morse, and parental distrust, and divine displeasure 
which he has incurred. Deceit often takes deep root 
in a child from such jests and tricks being allowed as 
afford it encouragement Jests and tricks are not on- 
ly generally connected with art, but very frequently 
derive their supposed merit from that very circum- 
stance. Surely this is playing with edged tools ! The 
child, who is allowed to sharpen his wits in overreach- 
ing his companions in jest, will soon acquire a taste 
for that employment of his faculties, and simplicity 
and plain dealing will appear insipid to him. From de- 
ceiving in jest, he will soon proceed to deceive in ear- 
nest ; and the pleasure which he has been in the habit 
of deriving from success in the one course will be felt, 
and perhaps in a higher degree, from success in the 
other. Is it not by much the safer course, to discoun- 
tenance, and even forbid, the exercise of ingenuity in 
the way that has been mentioned ? God, in his wis- 
dom and goodness, has supplied an abundance of inno- 
cent means of exhilirating the mind, and drawing forth 
its powers, and many of them are of the most useful 
kind. Such will present themselves to every parent, 
and leave those without excuse who permit dangerous 
habits among their children, for the sake of improving 
their faculties, and promoting their happiness. I would 



153 
not say, as the poet does of a bold pleasantry, that sim- 
plicity and integrity of mind, 

" When once destroyed forever will be lost," 
but I believe, that of all good dispositions these are re- 
stored with the greatest difficulty when art, and cun- 
ningy and deceit, have had possession of the soul. It 
sometimes happens, that the harsh means used by a pa- 
rent to eradicate a fault lead the child to deceit. The 
temptation to deny his guilt, and escape the very severe 
punishment he expects, is almost irresistible. Some- 
times also the methods taken to extort confession, 
when a fault is strongly suspected, lead to a false con- 
fession, when the child is reallv innocent. With what 
horror have I seen a lady recollect a scene of this kind 
in which she was engaged when a child !^ 

One of the most pregnant sources of deceit in chil- 
dren is the art to which those who manage tht m have 
recourse. If a parent is disingenuous ; if he employs 
false pretensions to obtain his ends ; if he affects dis- 
positions w hich he does not feel ; or in any other way 
violates truth and sincerity in his conduct towards his 
child, or even in his conduct towards otiier persons in 
the presence of his child ; he may be assured that 
great evil will follow. It is surprising how quick chil- 
dren are, in discovering the dispositions and motives of 
those about them, and in detecting any inconsistency 
between their practice and their professions. This 
acuteness and sensibility, however, while they make a 
bad example in a parent extremely dangerous, give 

* There is an interesting" anecdote on this subject in the 
Christian Observer, vol. ii. p. 665. 
12^ 



134 

proportionate weight and efficacy to a good one* Let 
him uniformly adhere to simplicity and godly sinceri- 
ty ; let him yield to no inducement to violate those fun- 
damental and beautiful branches of the christian char- 
acter, by any appearance of present expediency, either 
in the management of his child or in any other part of 
his conduct ; and, employing at the same time other 
fit means to promote the spiritual welfare of his off*- 
spring, he may look forward with confidence to a hap- 
py Insult. His example will be a daily lecture of the 
most impressive kind. But no soundness of doctrine, 
no industry in teaching, no ability in persuasion, will 
be sufficient to afford him a rational hope of success, if 
his own example is opposed to his instructions and the 
child has reason to suspect that he is acting a deceit- 
ful part. 



1S5 



CHAP. VIIL 

Jittentio7i to Children when not at their Lessons.-^Amuse- 
ments.^'^Behavioiir of Children to each other. — ^uar- 
rels. — ^ Domineering or a Teaming Spirit. — Selfish- 
ness and Jealousy. — Conduct of the two Sexes to each 
other — Domestic Effects in well and ill educated Fami" 
lies contrasted. — Acquaintance. — Familiarity with Ser-^ 
vants. 

I HAVE intimated the necessity of a vigilant atten- 
tion to children during the time when they are not en- 
gaged by their lessons ; and I must now dwell a little 
on this important branch of my subject. 

If the primary object in education be to put things 
in the most favourable state for the formation of a new 
creature, through the influence of the Holy Spirit, in 
opposition to the strong bent of Nature, how can it be 
hoped that this will be effected, if, during great part, 
and in early childhood by far the greatest part, of ev« 
ery day, Nature is suffered to take her course with on- 
ly partial and irregular counteraction from the parent ; 
and if the new principle and spirit to be infused and 
cherished meet with as partial and irregular support ? 
We all know, that in the moral as in the natural world, 
powerful and systematic tendencies will not fail to pro- 
duce a large share of their appropriate effects, unless 
opposed by what is also powerful and systematic. Thus 
in the planetary system, the constant force of gravity 



136 

is only balanced by the centrifugal force, equally con- 
stant : and in our political system, the tendency of each 
of the branches which form the legislature to increase 
its own power, would not be kept in check, if the oth- 
er two bodies were not continually ready to resist en- 
croachments, either by the exercise of their constitu- 
tional powers, or (as is generally the case in practice) 
by tliCir influence. Is then the natural tendency of 
man to evil the only uniform tendency which does not 
require constant counteraction ? And is it in his ear- 
liest years, before settled habits of virtue are formed, 
and before systematic caution and recollection to guard 
against deflections from the right path are acquired, 
that we can safely dispense with such counteraction ? 
The prudent Christian father will judge far otherwise. 
His parental watchfulness will be as unremitting as 
circumstances will allow, and the care and earnestness 
with which it will be employed will be in some meas- 
ure proportionate to the supreme importance of the 
object to be attained, I will proceed to point out some 
leading points, which will require attention when the 
child is out of the school-room. 

First, then, with respect to amusements — Of these 
God has made a most liberal provision, and I need not 
show that they are absolutely necessary for children. 
The parent ought to take care that they are not only 
harmless, but as useful as possible : and very useful 
they may be rendered, if he give his attention to this 
point with just views of human nature and of vital re- 
ligion. By being forward to promote his child'15 pleas- 
ures, he will increase his affection, and gain his confi- 



137 

dence, and sweeten the restraints and labours of the 
school-room : — by guiding him in the selection of them, 
he will show liim practically what a natural propensity 
children have to sinful gratifications, but what a sting 
such gratifications leave behind them : and also what 
an abundance of innocent pleasures our all-bountiful 
God has placed within our reach. He will make him 
sensible how frequently, while amusing himself, he may 
promote the happiness of others, and cherish just prin- 
ciples and good dispositions in his own bosom ; and 
that pleasures which produce such fruits will generally 
be the sweetest in immediate enjoyment, and still 
sw e^ter in retrospect. He will also communicate much 
useful knowledge, while his child thinks only of his 
own amusement ; and he will discover many a fault 
and many a promising disposition, which would scarce- 
ly have shown themselves amidst the restraints of the 
school-room. He will often find himself able to cor- 
rect the one without any grave process for that pur- 
pose ; and he will take advantage of the other at a 
season when the openness of the heart and the flow of 
the affections give him the best opportunity of connect- 
ing it with christian principle, and of giving it a holy 
direction. Above all, he will make him sensible how 
conducive good principles are to pleasure j that not 
only he is the happy maUf but 

" He is the happy boy whose life, e'en now, 

" Shows somewhat of that happier life to come :— " 

that the ways of religion are •< ways of pleasantness, 
and all her paths are peace.'' This will be done by 
leading him to compare the 



1S8 
« Solid and heartfelt delight,'* 
which he has enjoyed in amusements sanctioned by the 
divine approbation, with the anxiety and the fears which 
must attend guilty pleasures, and the remorse which 
must follow them. He will thus begin to learn from his 
own experience, that 

" True piety is cheerful as the day," 
and that the misgivings and forebodings of a troubled 
conscience must poison every enjoyment. And this 
truth early fixed, and strongly felt at a time of life 
when the sensibility is all alive, will do much, by God's 
blessing, towards securing him from the power of 
temptations not only in childhood, but at subsequent 
periods when many of them will attack him with great- 
er force. — Let it n«t>t be thought, that the age of the 
parent will unfit him for promoting the pleasures of his 
child in his play-hours. On the contrary, if, instead of 
forcing amusements upon the child, he suffers him to 
follow, in a great measure, the bent of his inclinations, 
and merely prevents every thing wrong while he now 
and then lends his aid to remove little obstacles and to 
forwaiil his child's objects, he will find himself a very 
acceptable companion. He will admire the divine wis- 
dom and benevolence, which, while it makes youth the 
joy of age, thus enables age not only to guide the inex- 
perience but to sweeten the pleasures of youth. 

But a parent must not expect to be a pleasing and 
useful companion to his child, without making some 
sacrifices. As in the material, so in the moral and in- 
tellectual worlds, there is no region in which those who 
will not submit to the toil of culture can expect a har- 



139 

vest. He must often forego his own wishes, to meet 
those of his child. During a walk, for instance, he 
must be content to break the thread of his own thoughts 
to give explanations which cannot but appear to him 
trifling, and to hear remarks which convey to him no 
information. At one time, he may be requested to 
look at a pebble, when he was ruminating on the re- 
establishment of the independence of Europe ; and at 
another, he may be called upon to cut a twig from a 
tree, when looking at a fine passage in Milton. If, 
however, he form a right estimate of education, he will 
bear such interruptions with complacency ; and reflect, 
that the pebble and the twig, viewed in connexion with 
their concomitant circumstances, may probably be, at 
that time, more important objects of his attention than 
European politics or our great Epic Poet. And when, 
at the close of the day, he reviews its events, with how 
much greater pleasure will he look back on such little 
instances of self-denial, and on the advantage he may 
hope that this boy has received from them, than he 
could on his speculations respecting the happy results 
of the late war, or on the pleasure which he derived 
from the noble flights of Milton. Not that a parent 
is to give up all his time to his children. This sur- 
render would be incompatible with the discharge of his 
other duties. But he will do well, I think, in allotting to 
their society, without allowing the intervention of such 
company as would prevent him from giving to them 
his attention, a portion of the time which he sets apart 
4br recreation. 



140 

In superintending the amusements of children, it is 
important to give them a taste for those which are not 
expensive and are easily obtained, and which are cal- 
culated to draw forth ingenuity, and to exercise bodily 
and mental powers. Such as are expensive, — as have 
little but novelty to recommend them, — as have any 
connexion with mischief or deceit, or are likely to give 
pain to any companion, or even to any of the brute 
creation, ought to be carefully avoided, — It is obvious, 
that games of violent competition are very likely to 
lead to evil ; and indeed all competition is dangerous 
in a greater or a less degree, and calls for vigilant at- 
tention on the part of a parent, especially where the 
competition is direct and palpable, and the temper of 
the child is sanguine and ardent. It should be a rule 
in a game of competition, that as soon as a child shows 
any unfairness or wrong temper, or plays in a way 
likely to excite bad tempers in others, he is no longer 
to be considered as fit for such a sport, and must leave 
it to those who have more generous integrity, gentle- 
ness, and self-command. If he can himself be made 
sensible of his weakness, and brought into a disposi- 
tion voluntarily to relinquish an amusement which in 
his case involves a breach of duty, this will be far bet- 
ter than the exercise of parental authority : but if his 
passions are too far engaged to admit of this victory of 
reason and principle, the parent must interfere with 
such decision as to stop the progress of niischief. Sed- 
entary games of chance or skill, as drafts, are certain- 
ly dangerous, when in frequent use, and I think that 
they are better avoided altogether. They are objec- 



141 

tionable, partly because tliey are sedentary, and there- 
fore ill-suited to an age when lively exercise is so nat- 
ural and so conducive to health and vigour; partly, 
because their very essence is competition ; but chiefly 
because they may give a taste for cards, and perhaps 
for gaming. Little gardens distributed among the 
children of a family, and to be managed entirely by 
themselves, are admirable sources of amusement. A 
few small tools and implements of carpentry, in a fa- 
therms custody, to be lent occasionally to his children, 
answer an excellent purpose ; and particularly if he is 
qualified to assist a little when difficulties occur in the 
use of them. 

But whatever are the favourite amusements, wliich 
will vary with the age, sex, and natural turn of niiud, 
moderation in them is of the highest importance. Chil- 
dren ought to learn early, that life and all our facul- 
ties are given to us rather for business than for pleas- 
ure ; that they are talents to be employed in our Lord's 
service, and must not be wasted in idleness or frivo- 
lous pursuits. Amusement must be represented as no 
longer innocent, when encroaching on the time whicli 
ought to be employed in serious occupations, to which 
it must always be considered as subordinate. It must 
be represented as truly sweet, (such is the wise and 
gracious connexion which God has appointed between 
pleasure and duty,) only wlien confined within due 
bounds ; and as producing satiety, — as engrossing tiie 
mind, and alienating it from God, — as generating bad 
passions, — and as leading to shame and remorse, and 
to eternal ruin, wlien it occupies the chief place in tho 



142 

heart. Tims, persons who had given themselves up to 
wickedness, are described in Scripture as ^' lovers of 
pleasure more than lovers of God ;'' and the rich man 
in the parable is said to be tormented in hell, because 
in this life his great object was to indulge in pleasure. 
This is a point in which young people are very apt to 
transgress. 

There is one amusement which I have reserved far 
separate consideration : because while it affords high 
gratification, it is also, under proper management, a 
most important source of improvement ; but if subject 
to no regulations, it is pregnant with the greatest evils. 
I speak of private reading. Of late yearsr, a great va- 
riety of little books, extremely well calculated to amuse 
children, and at the same time to make virtue lovely 
and vice hateful, have been sent into the world. These 
sliould be carefully selected from the great mass of in- 
different and mischievous publications ^ and one or 
another of them will generally take the fancy of a child, 
as soon as he can read with tolerable ease. When he 
once begins to amuse himself in this way, a great point 
is gained. Time will never hang heavy on his hands : 
he will make rapid progress in reading : much knowl- 
edge will be gained ; his faculties will be draw^n forth ; 
his taste will receive a right direction ; and good prin- 
ciples will take firmer hold of his mind. Care must 
be taken, however, that he does not read too much or 
too rapidly. He may become a devourer of little 
books, and read every thing and remember little. To 
counteract this tendency, and at the same time to as- 
sist in giving liim right impressions from his reading, 



143 

it will be useful to induce him, by a few leading ques- 
tions, proposed with kindness and in a familiar man- 
ner, to relate the stories which have interested him. 
This practice, if not pressed too far or suffered to wear 
the air of a lesson, will generally be an agreeable 
amusement : and it will afford a parent great opportu- 
nities of discovering the turn of the child's mind, and 
of giving it a right direction. It will also be necessa- 
ry to guard against bad effects from the short abstracts 
of histories, which, by acquainting him with the lead- 
ing facts, diminish, at a future period, the interest of 
the histories themselves, and indispose him for going 
through their details. In order to avoid this evil, I 
am inclined to think, that such abstracts should be 
sparingly used. 

From the subject of amusements, I must pass to one 
nearly allied to it ; and say a little on the way in which 
children of the same family should conduct themselves, 
each towards the other. At the very early period of 
life now under consideration, play will occupy a large 
portion of the time not employed in the school-room ; 
and much happiness or vexation, advantage or injury, 
must be derived from the dispositions wliich accompa- 
ny it. When the spirits are high and the passions 
waim, and when the objects in view are interesting, 
children will always be in danger of giving way to sel- 
fishness, and of falling into little quarrels ; and if the 
evil is suffered to proceed, contradictions, criminations, 
misrepresentations, falsehoods, hard names, threats* 
and perhaps blows will follow. If such scenes are of- 
ten repeated, domestic love and harmony will give place 



144 

to mutual dislike and alienation ; to tyranny in the el- 
der, and to an abject or a bitter spirit in the younger, 
who, in tlieir turn, will often be disposed to repay them- 
selves for their sufferings by domineering over those 
below them. If tyranny produces slavery, it also pro- 
duces tyranny. What a scene does a family present, 
when under the influence of such passions, and addict- 
ed to sucli habits ! What obstacles are opposed to 
meekness and gentleness, candour and forbearance : to 
tlie ciiarity which «* thinketh no evil ;'' which " suffer- 
eth long and is kind ;'' which " beareth all things, he- 
lieveth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all 
things ;'' to the love of man, and therefore to that 
which cannot exist without it, the h)ve of God ! He 
who loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how 
c^n he love God, whom he hath not seen ? I dwell the 
more on this point, because many, who would be shock- 
ed by quarrels among their friends, see them take 
place among children with very little concern. Do 
not contentions spring in botli cases from the same 
root ? And is not the fruit which they produce, how- 
ever different in form and appearance, essentially of 
the same species ? Surely, then, the utmost pains 
should be taken to prevent and to heal differences, and 
to promote harmony in a young family. It is by no 
means sufficient to silence a dispute by the voice of au- 
tliority, and to keep down all outward expressions of 
disagreement. The evil may yet remain in the heart, 
:ind rankle there in all its malignity. Persevering 
pains must be taken to eradicate it. A Christian pa- 
rrnt* on such occasions, wiU show his child from what 



145 

tempers quarrels arise, and make him sensible, bj 
God's blessing, of the hatefulness of such tempers, and 
of their contrariety to the character of liis God and 
Saviour. He will pouitray, in simple but glowing 
colours, the beauty of the opposite tempers, their ten- 
dency to conciliate affection and esteem in this world, 
and to promote that renewal in the divine image which 
is indispensable to an union with Christ in the next. 
He will give additional force to these general topics by 
bringing into view all the claims to forbearance and to 
love which belong to the child with whom the quar- 
rel has arisen ; and the grief and the bad consequen- 
ces which attend such family differences, and the hap- 
piness and the numerous advantages of mutual kind" 
ness. Nor will he rest satisfied till he sees all the re- 
mains of ill-will give way, and the child brought into 
a frame of mind candidly and cordially to make every 
requisite acknowledgment to his playfellow, and to de- 
sire a complete reconciliation. While the paient is 
bringing matters to this issue, he will be particularly 
careful to show, that although he is impartial, and can 
see in a true light the faults on both sides, yvt it be- 
comes the child to think only of his own guilt, and to 
be anxious for forgiveness from God and man, and for 
the restoration of cordial harmony. 

In the observations which have been made on quar- 
rels, a domineering spirit has been slightly mentioned 
as connected with them. But this spirit requires far- 
ther attention. It is the natural fruit of the two lead- 
ing evils in oui* nature, selfishness and pride ; a»ul 
therefore a parent must not be surprised to see it 
13-* 



146 
among his children. The elder will expect a complU 
ance with their wishes and humours on the part of the 
younger; the boys will exact obedience from the girls 
of nearly the same age ; and they will all be disposed 
to assert a superiority over some of the servants. 
I have seen a young urchin, in the nursery, play the 
tyrant with a high hand over his maid : and some- 
times, little creatures, who should be practising , sub- 
mission and deference towards their elder relations, 
presume on the fondness of one or another of them ; 
an aunt perhaps, or even a mother ; and behave in a 
manner as injurious to themselves, as it is revolting to 
all who witness the unnatural scene. I need not en- 
large on this subject, to make a Christian parent sen- 
sible of its importance. He will recollect, that humil- 
ity and submission are the very foundations of reli- 
gion, and of the whole range of religious tempers : that 
there cannot be a greater solecism than a self-willed 
or a tyrannical Christian ; that he who would be high 
in the kingdom of the lowly Saviour, must be *< least 
of all, and servant of all ;'' that the most impetuous 
and high-minded by nature of all the Apostles, when 
matured in his christian course, said with unusual em- 
phasis, " Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and 
be clothed with humility.'' He will therefore by no 
means view this point with indifference : he will not 
leave things to find their own level, as the phrase is, 
in his young family : much less will he be dazzled by 
the appearance of spirit in a boy of activity and vig- 
our, who aspires to be the master of all about him. He 
will earnestly inculcate mutual kindness, and forbear- 



147 

ance, and condescension : which all should be forward in 
exercising, but backward in requiring:— he will inculcate 
that true fortitude and greatness of mind which show 
themselves in nothing more clearly than in not being 
ovei*come of evil, but in overcoming evil with good : 
he will dwell on the beauty of a character which ob- 
tains such victories, — on the evil prevented and the 
happiness diffused by them, — on their value in the 
sight of God, — and on their important influence in pro- 
moting some faint resemblance of Him who, with all 
his meekness and lowliness, was a perfect pattern of 
holy fortitude, and at length died for his enemies. 
These topics will furnish abundant matter for impress- 
ing the young mind ; and if that of the parent is in 
true harmony with them, they will be seldom used in 
vain. There will, however, be frequent recurrences 
of the fault in question, where the temper is sanguine 
and eager, and still more where there is a tendency to 
jealousy or passion. In such cases, a parent will find 
it of the highest importance to watch his own temper ; 
for equanimity, and tenderness in the use of his au- 
thority, joined to constant firmness, will do much to- 
wards repressing a domineering spirit in his children. 
These qualities will put to the blush the impatience, 
and violence, and thirst of power, which may appear 
among his little ones, and lead them by sympathy to a 
better spirit; while the display of tempers at all simi- 
lar to theirs, however it might terrify the culprits into 
instant submission, would leave a fire covered with 
ashes, but unsubdued and ready to break forth again 
with undiminished force. 



14S 

Sometimes, a nursery is infected by a spirit of teas- 
ing in some of its inmates : a spirit which is often com- 
bined with much cunning, and delights in drawing a 
playfellow of a more unguarded nature into impruden- 
ces and excesses, and then in laying all the blame up- 
on him. This mean habit must be strictly watched. 
It is the bane of every thing kind and generous, and 
leads to systematic deceit and falsehood. Hasty quar- 
rels leave little of bad leaven behind them, compared 
with this cold-blooded and odious practice. 

Selfishness and jealousy generally appear very early 
in children, and are among the most unamiable of all 
the bad dispositions inherited from our First Parents. 
Every mother can testify what reluctance children 
show by nature, to giving or lending their own play- 
things ; how eagerly they grasp at those which belong 
to others ; how earnestly they contend for the first oc- 
cupancy of such as are a sort of a common property ; 
hov? ardently they long for any thing when another 
child is playing with it ; and how indifferent to it they 
often become as soon as he has relinquished it. And 
with respect to jealousy, the original bias is quite as 
striking. Even infants show it, when the women that 
have the charge of them bestow caresses on other chil- 
dren ; and in subsequent yeais, though the feeling is 
known to be wrong, and its outward expression is in a 
measure restrained, yet from time to time evident 
symptoms of it appear. 

It is needless to say, that such feelings should be re- 
pressed : they are not only evidently incompatible with 
the law of love, but are condemned even by the lax 



149 

code of worldly morality. Let every parent be inde- 
fatigable in his endeavours to correct them : and let 
him constantly bear in mind, that merely to check 
outward appearances, will by no means be sufficient, 
that the cliild who is subject to such tempers is con- 
scious of their baseness, and naturally desirous of con- 
cealing them ; and that the object in view can be at- 
tained only by the eradication of the evil itself from 
the heart, and by the implantation of those christian 
virtues wliicli are opposed to it. This must be the 
work of the Holy Spirit, whose humble instrument the 
parent may be in cleansing and preparing the soil, and 
in sowing the good seed. 

The proper conduct of the two sexes, each towards 
the other, is of high importance, even at this early age. 
Boys are apt to feel their superiour strength and hardi- 
hood, and not to treat girls as they ought ; and some- 
times, I fear, girls, presuming on their exemption from 
that kind of treatment which impertinence experiences 
among boys, give to their tongues liberties which are 
subversive of family concord. In addition to the im- 
mediate evils flowing from this state of things, a foun- 
dation is laid for still greater in future life. In the 
whole range of associations between persons of differ- 
ent sexes, the consequent advantages extremely depend 
on the maintenance of fixed and habitual sentiments of 
mutual respect. Such sentiments are essential to deli- 
cacy and tenderness in men, and to willing deference 
and submission in women, and to cordial aflection in 
the nearer relations of life on both sides. How desira- 
ble, then, is it, that the foundations of right feelings 



150 

and right conduct should be laid in early life j and 
how well employed is the attention by which this ob- 
ject is effected ! It would be necessary, were the sub- 
sequent stages of education brought under review, to 
treat this subject with more particularity. 

And can we pass on to other topics without reflect- 
ing for a few moments on the delightful spectacle of a 
young family living together in harmony that is sel- 
dom interrupted by contentiojis, overbearing conduct, 
rivalries, jealousies, or suspicions ; a family in which 
contentment, love, generosity, mutual forbearance, and 
a spirit of mutual accommodation, founded on chris- 
tian principles, are the proininent dispositions, and in 
which the performance of daily duties, and the promo- 
tion and participation of the general happiness, ap- 
pear to be the leading occupations ? Struck with the 
beauty of such a scene, one who was familiar with 
family discord exclaimed, " Behold how good and how 
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity !'' 
In such a family, adversity will seldom inflict a deep 
or lasting wound. Many sweet drops will find their 
way into the bitter cup ; and in no long time tears 
will be succeeded by smiles, and a recollection of the 
trial may be attended, perhaps, with not more pain 
than pleasure. 

If we were to look round for the opposite picture, 
should we not find it presenting so many deep shades 
of depravity and wretchedness, as to make us shudder 
at the view ? I will not give myself and my readers 
the pain of contemplating the scene more closely. 
Were we to do so, we should be all ready to exclaim 



151 

with Isaiah, *^ There is no peace, saith my God, to the 
wicked V^ and with St. James, ^' Where envying and 
strife is, there is confusion and every evil work/' 

All the benefits of a useful education may be lost by 
acquaintance with children of bad habits. Such is the 
natural propensity to evil ; so great is the vivacity, the 
curiosity, the love of novelty, and the want of caution 
at a tender age ; so lively is the sympathy, so active 
the spirit of imitation ; that even occasional intercourse 
with dangerous companions will seldom fail to be high- 
ly injurious to children. Surely it is the part of wis- 
dom to keep them as much as possible from moral con- 
tagion, till they have acquired some strength to resist 
it. If the weakness of man is such, that our Saviour, 
in giving a short Prayer for universal use in his church, 
saw fit to insert in it the petition, ^^ Lead us not into 
temptation," how much must it be the duty of a Chris- 
tian parent to preserve the little creatures committed to 
his care, whose good principles and habits are as yet 
unfixed and infirm, from a species of temptation most 
seductive and dangerous ? They must at length go 
forth into an evil world ; but they ought to be prepar- 
ed against its allurements by education, and introduced 
to them by degrees. At this early age, the tender 
plant should be preserved with care from the frosts, 
and storms, and droughts which it will be better able 
to encounter at a future period, if guarded and sheltered 
while its stem is weak, and its roots are few and 
superficial. But besides the present danger from un- 
desirable companions, a foundation is often laid for bad 
connexions in future life. The little play-fellows be- 



152 

come attached, and wish to keep up their acquaintance 
in succeeding years : and unless the desire to discon- 
tinue the intimacy he mutual, either of them will find 
it difficult to break off the connexion, however alive to 
the snares and dangers which attend it. The impor- 
tance of this consideration is great, for a man's steps 
through life usually depend not a little upon the nature 
of his early friendships. Nor is it from children only 
that danger is to be apprehended, but also from visitors 
of a more advanced age. Instead of strengthening the 
hands of the parent, they are too apt to flatter and hu- 
mour the little ones ; to entertain them with foolish 
stories ; or to teach them to be impertinent, and to 
take improper liberties. More mischief is sometimes 
done in this way, in a few days, than the parent can 
undo in as many weeks. A single instance of bad ex- 
ample is dangerous. How destructive, then, must be 
its frequent repetition ; and how important must it be 
to guard the sacred work of education from such inter- 
ruptions, and to make great sacrifices to effect this ob- 
ject ! Parents are too apt to make their own taste 
and convenience the great, if not the only, rule in the se- 
lection of their acquaintance. Now, ouglit not the safe- 
ty and w^elfare of their children to enter at least equal- 
ly into their consideration ? Here, probably, is the 
most vulnerable point, and here ought provident cau- 
tion and measures of defence to be most carefully em- 
ployed. Parents frequently leave their home and their 
circle of acquaintance for a considerable time, in order 
to afford to their children an opportunity of acquiring 
accomplishments. Shall there be less interference 



153 

with old habits, less change of situation, or of acquaint- 
ance, when the object is to sliiekl them from the allure- 
ments of sin, and to give them a taste for the paths of 
true religion and virtue ? Are we not called upon to 
apply the spirit of the piecept, to cut off the offending 
right hand and pluck out the offending right eye, to 
the case before us, and resolutely, though witli all mild- 
ness and courtesy, to avoid in our social intercoui^c 
whatever may be dangerous to our children ? It is 
true, that the question is one of comparison. Some 
risks to the young family must be incurred, if we 
would not do extreme violence to private friendship, to 
the ties of relationship, or to the duties of hospital! . 
But those who feel the importance of preserving their 
tender charge from the contagion of evil, will allow great 
weight, in forming a decision, to the circumstances 
which belong to that side of the question. With res- 
pect to forming new connexions, there is seldom much 
difficulty ; but with regard to old associations, we 
shall often be called to introduce changes as to the fre» 
quency and duration of visits, and sometimes as to 
their continuance :~changes which may appear unkind 
to others, and will be extremely unpleasant to ourselves. 
Let it, however, be our earnest prayer and endeavour 
to do all in the spirit of christian affection ; and this 
will greatly facilitate our object. — I remember many 
years ago being struck by a little incident in a parish, 
where the incumbent, a man of most extraordinary 
ehristain benignity, when in company with a clerical 
friend, rebuked in very plain terms one of his parish- 
ioners for gross misbehavfour on a recent occasion. 



154 

The reproof was so severe as to astonish his friend, 
who declared, that, if he had addressed one of his own 
flock in similar language, he should have expected an 
irreconcileable breach. The clergyman of the parish 
answered him, with a gentle pat on the shoulder, and 
with a smile of christian wisdom, ^» O, my friend, when 
there is love in the heart, you may say any thing.'* 
And in like manner, I believe, when there is tnie and 
warm love in our hearts, and our measures are prompt- 
ed by a calm and sincere sense of duty, we may do 
almost any thing without giving great offence ; at 
least without giving offence deep and lasting. 

After what has been said respecting servants, little 
needs to be added to guard parents against suffering a 
child to D^ake them his companions. He should always 
treat them with kindness, but should be led not to 
amuse himself with their society in his play hours. 
This remark applies with particular force to the men 
servants, who will generally be much more dangerous 
to children than the maids. But, with very few excep- 
tions, both the one and the other, if treated by the 
children as favourites, will be apt to flatter and humour 
them, and teach them to be guilty of little deceits, and 
to be fond of self-indulgence. Vulgarity of manners 
and of language, though the most obvious, is perhaps 
the least of the evils to be apprehended from such com- 
panions. 



155 



CHAP. IX. 



Hardihood.— J^Ioderate Habits. — Artijicial Hardships. — 
Moderation favourable to elevation of Character. — 
Rules. — Freparation for Fraijer. — Self-Examination. 
— Prayer. — How long Boys should be kept under do- 
mestic Education. — Preparation for School.— 'Govern- 
esses. 

In a system such as I have recoinmciuled, marked 
by the absence of harshness and violence on the part 
of the parent, and of contests and collisions among the 
children, there may appear to be some danger of a 
want of the hardihood requisite in the troubles and 
disappointments that will be met with in life. But 
though the circumstances which in general tend most 
powerfully to promote this quality are excluded by our 
plan of education, yet, under the guidance of a parent 
who turns his attention to this point, those which re- 
main will be sufficient for the attainment of our object. 
Even in the best regulated families troubles will arise 
among the children. The loss of a plaything, a per- 
sonal accident, a lesson ill learned, — above all, a hope 
disappointed ; — all these, and numberless other circum- 
stances of constant recurrence, will chequer their hap- 
piness, and accttstom them to difficulties and trials, 
which it will be the parent's endeavour to convert into 
lessons of patient endurance^ if not of cheerful resigna- 
tion. 



156 

But there is another course, peifectly compatible 
with that just mentioned, of high importance for arm- 
ing the young mind against the difficulties and troubles 
of life : this is, to accustom children to moderation, and 
to teach them from the first to do as much as may be 
for tiiemselves, instead of depending on others for their 
conveniences and comforts. Moderate habits have 
been celebrated as sources of hajjpiness by Mr. Paley, 
and with the felicity with which he handles most topics 
unconnected with his erroneous principle (as I deem it) 
of general expediency. It is, therefore, perfectly un- 
necessary for me to enlarge on the value of such hab- 
its.=^ It is apparent, how contented with a little those 
are prepared to be, whose habits lead them to look for 
a little ; and how^ large a portion of the trials of those 
who are used to flattery, luxury, and self-imlulgence, 
will pass over their heads.] The want of delicate food 
and a soft bed will not be felt by a child who has been 
used to plain fare and a matrass; and rising early in 
the winter will be no hardship to one who has been 
always accustomed to it. The habits also of shifting 
for themselves (to use a homely but expressive phrase) 
will not oidy stimulate the activity of children, and 
call forth their ingenuity, and make them more pleased 
with little acquisitions, as fruits of their own skill and 
exertions, but it will powerfully tend to preserve them 

* Vide Moral Pliilosophy, chapter on Human Happiness. 

•j- " WiU pass over their heads :" The meaning of this phrase 
In this connexion is not immediately obvious ; the phrase, tliey 
'ivill escape, would, perhaps, render the sentence more perspicuous. 

Amer. Hd, 



157 

from sources of discontent. There is no bound to the 
unreasonable wishes of those who are taught to think 
it the business of others to obtain for them what they 
wish. They will often appear to wish almost solely 
for tlie sake of giving trouble. But whether they really 
do so or not, the unfortunate person, who is expected 
to satisfy this immeasurable capacity of wishing, will 
be extremely likely to be of that opinion, and execute 
the unpleasant task with no little dissatisfaction, if not 
with ill-humour. These dispositions will be caught by 
the children, and add greatly to the discontent excited 
by their preposterous and unsatisfied wants. This, I 
conceive, is one leading cause of the unhappiness of the 
children, and the unfeeling conduct of the female atten- 
dants so often observable when children of rank walk 
out in the parks in London. How different is the sit- 
uation of children who are taught to depend upon them- 
selves as much as possible for their comforts and 
pleasures ! Their wishes will be moderate and reason- 
able ; for they will be bounded by their sense of their 
own ability to supply them, of which they will form a 
far better estimate than of the ability of others. What 
they do obtain will be highly grateful to them : and 
when they fail to obtain any thing, they will impute 
the failure to themselves ; and this circumstance will 
serve to stifle complaint, or afford the parent an oppor- 
tunity of showing its absurdity. The propriety of the 
system here recommended will be readily acknowledg- 
ed by children. They will easily understand, that we 
ought to interfere as little as may be with the happi- 
ness of others by causing them trouble : and that indif- 



158 

ference to the case and comfort of those about us ai?-^ 
gues a want of feeling which must be hateful to our 
kind and compassionate Saviour. 

Natural methods of promoting moderation, patience, 
and a due measure of hardihood will be found amply 
sufficient, without having recourse to unnatural and 
artificial austerities and sufferings. These I should 
exceedingly disapprove, though I fear they are some- 
times found in the plans of education adopted by good 
parents. Surely they are calculated to sour the tem- 
per of a child, and weaken filial affection. What God 
sends, we all learn to bear more cheerfully than what 
is brought upon us (as we are apt to think) by the mere 
will of man. Besides, when God is clearly the author 
of the event, its rigours are tempered and softened in 
various ways. In judgment he remembers mercy. 
But when it proceeds more from man, even though 
man does nothing without the divine permission, it 
bears marks of his short-sightedness and violence. 
Compare the sufferings inflicted by the Inquisition, 
with those which proceed from natural distempers. 
Well might David, when allowed a choice of evils, say, 
« Let me fall now into the hand of the Lord, for very 
great are his mercies j but let me not fall into tlie 
hand of man.'^ 

The habits, which have been mentioned, besides pre- 
paring children to meet the difficulties and bear the 
evils of life, will give the mind a certain elevation. 
Self-indulgence leads to frivolity ; enervates the soul : 
pampers the lower, and chills and depresses the higher, 
part of our nature. Our blessed Saviour said, ^^ If any 



159 

man will come after me, let him deny himself, and 
take up his cross, and follow me.'' He well knew how 
incompatible self-indulgence is with the recovery of the 
divine image in the soul. How can liberality, magna- 
nimity, cheerful contentment under evils, and modera- 
tion and spirituality of mind in the midst of unforeseen 
prosperity, be expected from the self-indulgent man ? 
His aims will be low, his conduct marked by mean- 
ness ; and he will cling to this earth, the only s«urce 
of his pleasures. If we wish this picture to be revers- 
ed, we must omit no means of instilling, by the divine 
blessing, an opposite spirit into our offspring. 

Rules are necessary in every young family, and, 
perhaps, for no purpose more particulai^ly than for the 
promotion of self-denial and moderation. They should 
be simple and definite, and not needlessly numerous j 
for there never ought to be room for question, when 
one is broken, whether it could be easily understood 
and remembered. But rules should always be consider- 
ed as so connected w ith the principles from which they 
flow, that they must be interpreted rather largely, and 
regarded as extending to every thing manifestly of the 
same kind with that which is expressed by their letter. 
All cunning methods of evading them, and all special 
pleading as to their meaning, must be decidedly sup- 
pressed. A child must be early taught to look to those 
general principles and motives which are the guides of 
the advanced Christian : and by no means to consider 
every thing allowable whic h is not forbidden by a spe- 
cific rule, and nothing as a duty whi.ch a rule does not 
prescribe. In laying down rules, the parent will ac- 



160 

commodate them to age and sex, and in a measure also 
to individual character. He must take care that they 
shall not only be reasonable, but that, if it be possible, 
they shall be seen and felt to be so by those who are to 
obey them. It is obvious, therefore, that they should 
not be formed hastily, and much less when a fault has 
just been committed by a child, and the mind of the 
parent may be less serene than is usual. When estab- 
lished, they should not be lightly changed. But it is 
better to change or annul a rule, than to wink at the 
breach of it ; — a mode of proceeding which must pro- 
duce the worst effects on the principles and habits of 
the child, and must undermine the authority of the pa- 
rent. 

My readers will expect, that I should say something 
on the subject of prayer ; but important as that subject 
is, I am desirous first of adverting to a subject perhaps 
still more important — the preparation for prayer. I 
imagine that coldness of heart and wandering of 
thought in prayer proceed more from a want of due pre- 
paration, than from any wrong system in prayer itself. 
If this is the case with persons of mature age, it is like- 
ly to be much more so with children, whose minds are 
so lively and volatile, and whose self-command and 
habits of piety are so weak and imperfect. Consider 
what it is to make a child pass immediately from its 
play to its prayers, with scarcely the interval of a mo- 
ment to quiet its mind, and with no endeavour on the 
part of the parent to bring its soul into a frame lit for 
addressing its Almighty Maker and Redeemer. And 
yet this case, I fear, or one very like to it, is not \m- 



161 

common. Surely this practice must be offensive to the 
Lord of heaven and earth, and lead the child to look 
on prayer, not as an exercise of pious affections, but as 
little more than the decent repetition of a good form of 
words. At times, when the mind is in a more favour- 
able state for prayer, it is often scarcely, if at all, rais- 
ed to God, because the attention has not been called to 
the nature of the duty to be performed. A few words 
from a parent, before the child falls on his knees, 
would frequently give, under God's blessing, the spirit 
of prayer to a service which may appear likely other- 
wise to be little better than a mere ceremony. How 
deserving, then, is this point of a parent's attention ! 
Our liturgy sets before him an excellent example, in 
the address preceding the Confession ; the object of 
which is to prepare the congregation for the service 
which follows. 

But another most important preparation for prayer 
remains to be mentioned. This is, self-examination j 
—an exercise of the soul indispensable,*! think, to ev- 
ery Christian, and requiring to be begun at a very ear- 
ly period. Of course, its circumstances must depend 
on the age of the child, but its substance ought by no 
means to be omitted. A very young child (one of two 
or three years old) cannot be expected to examine 
himself; but the parent must remind him of one or 
fvvo faults or one or two victories over pressing temp- 
tation, on very recent occasions, and lead him to right 
feelings respecting them. By degrees, if this call to 
recollection is regularly practised once or twice a day, 
the exercise, though extremehj short at first, will become 



16!^ 

a little longer, and the child's feelings will be drawn 
into the habit, first, of being more easily led into the 
right course, and, after a while, of taking it of their 
own accord. Next the child will begin himself to rec- 
ollect what his conduct has been in some few leading 
points, and that with less and less help from the parent : 
and so he will proceed, till at length he will extend 
his view to more points, and require no assistance. 
In all the stages of this process, great caution should 
be employed not to fatigue or harass : and it will be 
better to advance too gradually than too rapidly j to 
do too little, rather than too much. It is also extreme- 
ly important, that this incipient religious exercise 
should be made to wear as gentle and amiable an as- 
pect, as is compatible with the holy dispositions which 
should accompany it. As it is one which, after a time, 
the child is to carry on in silence, and solely by his 
own reflections, if he becomes at all disgusted with it, 
it will either be neglected entirely or performed super- 
ficially and without advantage. Let the tenderness 
and patience, no less than the persevering assiduity, of 
the parent be in any tolerable degree proportioned to 
the high importance of the habit which he wishes to 
see established, and there is the fairest prospect of suc- 
cess. The object should be, to lead the child to think 
over the principal events of the preceding day ; to rec- 
ollect his faults with contrition, and his blessings with 
thankfulness : and then, to consider a little the day 
which is commencing, and with a disposition to behave 
well through it, — to avoid past faults, and to be grate- 
ful for expected mercies. Every care should be ta- 



163 

ken to infuse cordiality and piety into this course j 
and to guard it against every shade of insincerity, by 
turning the eye of the child from the parent to God, 
and from outward appearance to the heart. Every 
thing should he accommodated to the mind and habits 
of a child, and made to wear an easy and simple dress. 
Even the name is of consequence : and if the long term 
*^ self-examination,'' can be made to give way to one 
more intelligible, there will be an advantage in the 
change. The time preferred by me for this exercise 
is just before the morning private prayers of each 
child. Even after the child is able to examine himself 
without assistance, the watchful eye of a parent will 
be wanted to see that he in the main keeps his thoughts 
rightly employed, and does not fall into a habit of let- 
ting them wander to things of a different nature from 
those which ought to engage the mind. A parent may, 
from time to time, inform himself, or rather herself^ 
how" far the child has been engaged in the appointed 
duty, by asking him what has been the subject of his 
thoughts. Here, however, great delicacy is requisite, and 
the inquiry must be sparingly repeated, lest it should 
lead to falsehood and hypocrisy. If the thoughts ap- 
pear to wander, the exercise, though always very 
short at the age under consideration, must generally 
be shortened, and a right direction must be given to 
it, by suggesting before the child begins to think, the 
general subjects (two or three only) on which they 
should be employed. When there happens to have 
been any thing very remarkable in the child's conduct, 
it is alwaj^ advisable to point its attention to the fact 
for two or three succeeding days. 



164 

The great advantage of the practice which I am rec- 
ommending, not only as a preparation for prayer, but 
on other accounts, is apparent. As a preparation for 
prayer, it must produce, with the Divine blessing, the 
most salutary effect in spiritualizing the mind and turn- 
ing the thoughts to faults, and wants, and weaknesses j 
and also to motives for gratitude and praise. In other 
respects, it must produce, in a measure, the benefits 
which are the fruits of holy self-examination in adults. 
It must promote self-knowledge, watchfulness, and a 
tender conscience. Thus, we may humbly hope, that 
God will render it an important barrier against the in- 
roads of evil, and a guardian of all that is good. On 
what vantage ground does a parent stand, when on ob- 
serving a fault, tlie child can be reminded how much at 
variance it is with his resolutions and his prayers, after 
recollecting, in a former self-examination, a similar 
fault ; and what pain the present transgression will cause 
him when he reflects upon it at the next season for re- 
viewing the incidents of the day, and saying his pray- 
ers ? Instances of good conduct will give rise also to 
very useful observations resting on the same foundation. 
Children are so volatile, so eager in their pursuits, so 
forgetful of good lessons, and so disinclined to self-de- 
nial, that it is of the highest importance to introduce as 
early as possible a habit of religious thought and recol- 
lection at stated times. Is not, then, self-examination 
particularly desw^hle for children ; and ought parents 
to think any pains ill bestowed which may promote it ? 
I fully believe, from experience, that if their endeavours 
are well directed and persevering, and, above all^ 



coiulucted in a right spirit, they wUl not be used in 
vain. 

TJie prayers for young cliildren should be very sliort, 
and extremely simple. As soon as an infant Jan lisp, 
its mother will let it kneel in her lap, and repeat after 
her A very few words, addressed (o God, after it has seen 
its little brothers and sisters at their prayers. It will 
like to follow their example. By degrees 'it will require 
less and less assistance in offering up its little praver, 
and that prayer will be, in a very small degree, extend- 
ed. The mother's leading object will be, to initiate 
her tender charge in feelings of reverence and piety 
while so employed. These feelings may be instilled, 
while tiie ideas conveyed to the infant by the words it 
pronounces are yet very indistinct and imperfect : but 
the impression on its heart will be the blessed work of 
Its Sanctifier, and be acceptable to fe God and Saviour. 
After some time, recourse may be had to more regular 
forms of prayer. Those for children, by Dr. Watts, 
are very good, and different prayers are furnished to 
suit different ages. It is highly desirable that the child 
should pronounce his prayers aloud in the presence of a 
parent, whenever that mode can be made convenient, 
and at other times, of some proper person ; and atten- 
tion and a devout spirit should be diligently cultivated, 
and every thing which may disturb the thoughts should 
be carefully kept at a distance. The state of the mind, 
when engaged in prayer, will chiefly depend on its gen- 
eral habits, and on previous preparation , but the se- 

in the act itself, is a point of no small moment. Let a 
15 



166 

parent reflect on the infinite importance of communion 
with God at every age, and tlie incalculable influence 
which right impressions, and the commencement of 
right habits in this point, from the earliest period, may- 
have on future life, and he will be far from thinking 
the care which has been recommended greater than 
the object demands. From what evil will he guard 
his little ones, if not from the evil of trifling with their 
God ? And what habit will he be anxious to give them, 
if not the habit of humble dependence and devout ado- 
ration in addressing that Being, who is the Author of 
all their blessings, and in whose hands is their future 
lot for all eternity? 

I cannot close my remarks, without a few words as 
to the length of time during which it is desirable that 
boys should continue under their fat! er s roof. This 
is a question of expediency ; and its decision must de- 
pend much on circumstances. The health of the chiUI, 
the health, leisure, and ability of the parents, and va- 
rious other considerations, will have their weight in 
determining it. In general, however, I am disposed to 
think, that it is best to prolong domestic education un- 
til a boy is nine or ten years old, and that it is seldom 
desirable to continue it much longer. Till that period, 
a moderate share of knowledge and ability will enable 
parents to educate their son, and the mother will be 
likely to have a due ascendancy over him. But at the 
age which I have mentioned, in order to keep pace 
with other boys, he ought to begin to employ a large 
proportion of his school hours in studying Latin : and 
his father will seldom have leisure to superintend that 



167 
study regularly and sufficiently ; and what is more im- 
portant, his mother will generally find that he has be- 
come too large and rohubt to be easily managed in the 
father's absence, and that the welfare of the boy, if not 
her own comfort, requires that he siiould be placed in 
other hands. Scarcely any thing can be so mischiev- 
ous to a boy, as to be master of an individual, whom, 
in the regular course of his education, he is bound ta 
obey ; but the evil is extremely aggravated wlien that 
individual is a parent. When this shameful and un- 
natural scene is presented, how totally reversed are 
those provisions which the Divine Being has made for 
the progress of children in knowledge and in right 
dispositions, and for the usefulness and the comfort of 
parents ! We know in w hat abomination a rebellious 
son was held under the Jewish law ; and certainly he 
is not less offensive to correct judgment and right feel- 
ing under the christian system. 

In such a case, the parents are seldom blameless, es- 
pecially if it occurs when tlie boy is young. The fath- 
er should exert himself with vigour to support the 
mother's authority : and she ought to consider it a 
christian duty to support her ow^n, and avoid those 
weaknesses, from whatever amiable sources they may 
spring, which tend to undermine it.^ There is a silent 
dignity about a woman who does not yield to them ; 
and a son uncorrupted by bad companions can seldom 
resist its influence, and conduct himself tow ards such a 
mother with disrespect. 

* Let not a Mother threaten a Child, that she will " tell its 
father of his conduct," for this has a direct tendency to weaken her 
own authoritv. Ameb. Eb. 



168 

In families where a considerable share of the school 
business devolves on a governess, it is unfit that, 
when a boy is above her management, he should 
continue to be her scholar ; and, if a better arrange- 
ment cannot be made for his education, he must go to 
school* 

Little need to be said on the advantage of keeping a 
boy at home, while he can be duly educated and prop- 
erly managed. This course is highly desirable for 
the purpose of strengtliening his principles, and form- 
ing his habits. I have already said something on the 
high importance of laying a sound and broad foundation 
in these great points, during the continuance of domestic 
education. A parent who feels on this subject as he 
ought will be anxious to obtain as many of the first 
years of life as may be for the perfecting, establishing, 
strengthening, settling that foundation. He will bear 
in mind the original indisposition of man to holiness, 
his levity, his lively iuipressions from present objects, 
his neglect of future consequences, and his dislike of a 
persevering opposition to the natural bent of his own 
feelings. He will also bear in mind the force of the 
teinptations which abound in that world (and every 
school is a branch of it) into which his son must soon 
be sent ; and he will be far more inclined to regret 
that the period most favourable for patei*nal instruction 
is necessarily so limited, than he will be disposed to 
abridge it. 

Towards the close of that period, a boy must be pre- 
pared for the new course of things which awaits him at 
school, and be cautioned in a more particular manner 



169 
against some of its leading temptations. It would 
be necessary to enter into details on these points, if tlie 
next period in education, that which is passed by- 
boys at school, were under consideration. Suffice it 
here to say, that in his lessons he must be taught to 
look for less assistance, and to accommodate liimself to 
his task, rather than expect it to be accommodated to 
liim. He must also learn to submit to general rules, 
even when they bear hard upon him ; and to expect 
very few exceptions in his favour. Kindness to those 
who are less than himself, and patience and good 
humour under provocations and ill-treatment, must be 
earnestly inculcated. But, above all, he must be 
warned against falsehood and deceit, those flagrant 
vices of schools ; and increased diligence must be used 
to strengthen him against temptations of every kind. 
At the same time, the bonds of filial affection and 
filial confidence must be strengthened, if it be possi- 
ble, as barriers against evil, or as conductors, un- 
der God, to the right path again, when he has strayed 
from. it. 

No distinction has been made in the foregoing re- 
marks between the education of boys and tliat of girls. 
During tlie greater part of the period under consid- 
eration, the modes pursued with the different sexes 
should be, I think, very similar. In the last year or 
two, the boys and the girls will begin to separate, both in 
their studies and in their amusements. It is not ne- 
cessary to be more particular on this subject. In all 
that regards by far the most important part of educa- 
tion, the training of them, by God^s help, for himself 
15=^ 



170 

and a blessed eternity, the system will be the same for 
both. 

In many, and especially in large families, education 
cannot be properly conducted without a governess. In 
the choice of one, good principles, good sense, good 
temper, sobriety and firmness of mind, and competent 
knowledge, are the first requisites ; ornamental quali- 
fications hold a second place. Unfortunately, the gen- 
erality of young women who offer themselves for that 
situation, are much better furnished with showy accom- 
plishments, than with more solid acquirements ; and, 
for this and other reasons, parents must not raise their 
expectations high when they take a governess. Much, 
however, of the disappointment, wiach they too often 
experience on that occasion, may be owing to them^ 
selves. If tliey do not make fair and charitable allow- 
ances for her defects, and conduct themselves towards 
her in a manner respectful, kind, and friendly, and thus 
entitle themselves to her regard and confidence : and 
if they do not make a right use of their influence, by 
leading her gently and gradually into such methods 
of education as they approve, they must not wonder if 
they find great evils in the school-room. How can 
they expect a very important and delicate trust to be 
well executed, when they do not show proper attentions 
to their agent, nor put her into the way of adopting 
the course which will meet their wishes ? How can 
they hope that she, a stranger, will proceed with fidel- 
ity, tenderness, and zeal, in spite of the difficulties 
which she will experience among her pupils, when 
they, the parents, do not exert themselves to lessen 



171 

those difficulties, and to smooth her course ? How 
can they hope, that their children will find in her a 
portion of paren.al affection and solicitude, when she 
has found in themselves liltle support and friendship, 
though standing in so much need of them ? Let pa- 
rents take a different course, and they may see a very 
different result. They may then find how active are 
\he exertions of affection, how large the returns made 
by gratitude, and how great is the docility and how 
warm the sympathy of a young woman, thrown on 
their care, and, beyond her hopes, finding in them, as 
it were, second parents. However, I would caution 
those who employ a governess, in the midst of their 
kindness to remember what place she holds in their 
family, and to what situation in life she must return 
when she leaves it. They are bound to avoid any line 
of conduct which may place her above her station. To 
act otherwise would be disqualifying her for the duties 
of the school-room, and doing her a serious injury. 
They ought to consider eminently good conduct on 
her part as laying them under an obligation never to 
be forgotten. 



ir£ 



APPENDIX. 



No. I. 



[Extracted fram the Christian Observer for Jan^ 
nary 1813.] 

W E are the parents of several young children, and 
are anxious for their salvation. Not long since one of our 
little boys went to visit a very kind friend who has been 
remarkably successful in the pious education of his family. 
We were desirous to have our friend*s opinion of our son. 
His leading observation w^as, that the child did not show 
a cordial concern for his faults. Feeling the justice of this 
sentiment, and our own experience, we requested him to 
tell us at length how, under God's grace, this concern 
might be best excited; which drew from him the first of 
the following letters. We still expressed doubts on the 
subject of correction by the rod, whether it should ever be 
used at all, or whether it should ever be used where some 
contrition has been already produced by affectionate and 
serious conversation. This procured us the benefit of the 
second letter. Having found these letters of considerable 
use in the religious education of our children, and having 
obtained permission from our truly Christian friend to make 
them public, we beg leave to send them to you, in the hope 
that you will judge them well worthy of insertion in the 
Christian Observer. 



irs 

" My dear Sir, 

"The subject on which you request my sen- 
timents is one of the most important in education. With- 
out a cordial concern for a fault, no sound foundation is 
laid for its cure. Even if the parent looked no further than 
to worldly principles, to mere prudence and fair character, 
this would be true. It is eminently and obviously true, 
when the reference is to religion, and to God who searches 
the heart. Without this cordial concern there can be no 
repentance, and without repentance there can be neither 
forgiveness nor the Divine blessing ; and therefore all must 
be unsound, even if outward reformation be obtained. I 
ought to apologise for repeating truths so familiar to you, 
as applied to adults, if not also as applied to children, to 
whom they are equally applicable. It is their very high 
and fundamental importance and their not meeting with 
due attention in education, even from very many religious 
parents, which induces me to state them. I too frequent- 
ly see parents make the reformation of their children's 
faults a matter in which religion is scarcely, if at all, re- 
ferred to ; and little or no appeal is directed to the heart 
and conscience. Thus morality comes to be considered 
as consisting entirely (or nearly so) in mere outward ob- 
servances ; God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost, are little 
brought into view in the course of the child's daily con- 
duct; and he gets into the habit of being satisfied with 
himself, if he does nothing contrary to rule, though 
his motives may not have been holy, and his heart may 
have been in a very different state. You could describe to 
me better than I to you, the evils of such a state, and the 
hardness of conscience, and other future miseries threaten- 
ed by it. 



174 

"The system here has been carefully to counteract 
these evils, both present and future^ by doing our best to 
lead our children to have God in all their thoughts, and 
to habitual daily repentance and tenderness of conscience 
before him : — in short, to that frame of mind making prop- 
er allowance for their age, which is required in all of us 
by our Heavenly Father, To this end we always endeav- 
our, in correcting a fault in a child, to have a right reli- 
gious view of it, and to give the child, partly by precept 
and illustration, and partly by sympathy (for ' si vis me 
flere dolendum est primum ipsi tibi,'* is eminently appli- 
cable in this case,) a right feeling respecting it, as an of- 
fence against his Maker, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. It is 
too common, as you know, to cut short the notice of a fault. 
It is strongly blamed — ^perhaps the child undergoes some 
punishment — ^perhaps he is threatened with severe punish- 
ment if he repeats the fault : or perhaps he is required to 
say that he is sorry, and will not repeat it. The parent is 
peremptory, the child is frightened, and all is over in a 
very short time, without any useful impression on the child, 
except that he is less disposed to commit the outward act 
which has drawn upon him these animadversions. Mrs. 
— and I, on the contrary, endeavour to make every fault 
of our children to be felt by them as an offence against God, 
and a sin to be repented of, and upon repentance, to be 
pardoned through our Saviour. We therefore carefully 
guard against the child's thinking that his fault is reprov- 
ed as a personal offence against ourselves. We talk to 
him solemnly, but tenderly ; feeling and expressing much 
concern that he has offended God ; contrasting his conduct 
with the love of God ; painting the pleasure with which his 

* If you wish me to be affected, you must first be affected your- 
self. 



175 

holiness would be received in heaven, particularly by Christ, 
and the pain which his sin has occasioned. In short, we 
talk with hiin, ' mutatis mutandis,'* as with a friend with 
whom we tenderly sympathize, while we feel that we have 
a ri^ht to command. We temper the terrors of the Lord 
w ith representations of his love and mercy : and we per- 
severe in tliis course, till the child's mind appears humble 
and softened. and brought into such a penitent frame as God 
looks on with favour. The whole often ends in a short, 
aiTectionate prayer of half a minute, or a minute, for par- 
don and grace, dictated by ourselves, so far as the child's 
own thoughts ^^ ill uot of themselves supply it. This pro- 
cess is never hurried over, nor is it ever brought to a con- 
clusion before the end appears to be attained ; as nothing 
can be more important, so nothing is sufiered to supersede 
or interrupt it. It is taken up very early, and is always 
accommodated in its different parts to the years and 
knowledge of the child. It appears formidable on paper ; 
but it is surprising how short, and even pleasant it is, in 
all common cases, through its being commenced so early 
and habitually practised. It has almost banished punish- 
ment from our house, and has brought with it various other 
good consequences, I need not say, that considerable discrim- 
ination and discretion must be exercised by the parent. 
Religion must be made to wear an amiable and endearing, 
as well as an awful countenance. The bruised reed must 
not be broken ; the feelings must not be excited beyond 
what nature will bear; and if a storm of feeling arises, it 
must be allayed without any improper indulgence, destruc- 
tive of the effect to be produced. You will see that saga- 
city and self-command are wanted on the part of the pa* 

• Varying^ where variation is necessary. 



176 

rent, for which he cannot hope, if he do not maintain aw 
unruffled mind. 

" There are some necessary concomitants^of the system, 
which, were they not so, would be recommended by their 
own intrinsic importance. Holy things *..ist alw»ays be 
approached in a holy way. The Bible must never be read 
v/ith levity and indifference. Hymns, and the Catechism 
must never he jabbered over, nor repeated with that hard 
tone and manner which bespeaks an unconsciousness of 
their sacred nature. Religion must practically be made 
the main-spring of life; and she must not only be so, but- 
appear to be so, without departing from her native modes- 
ty, and without losing dignity by the frequency of her 
introduction, or by the kindness with which she is invest- 
ed. You will be aware that difficulties, and very great 
ones, must be encountered, where, instead of habits of pro- 
per feeling and repentance on committing faults having 
been formed from infancy, other habits have been form- 
ed. These difficulties are in their kind the same which 
clergymen experience in bringing adults to repentance. 
In their degree they will be greater or less according 
to circumstances. 1 had a child here for several months, 
some time ago, whom I could never bring to a quite 
satisfactory state of mind on his committing faults : ow- 
ing, as I believe, to the errors of his previous education. 
With our own children we have never experienced very 
formidable difficulties, God be praised ! His is the work ; 
but he makes great use of the instrumentality of parents, 
and gives, as I believe, an especial blessing to a well-direct- 
ed early education. 

" I remain, &c." 



177 ^ 

" My dear Sir, 

" As ours is quite ^Sunday subject, I will employ 
a little of to-day in giving you my thoughts on it. 

<^ With i't!a^ . w to punishments, our practice has been 
very generally to omit the employment of them altogether, 
Avhen the child was brought to real repentance ; feut at any 
rate to confine their use on such occasions to strong cases, 
and then to employ restraints, and not corporal correc- 
tion. But we have endeavoured to recal the child's mind 
to faults, from time to time, in a solemn but tender man- 
ner, that they might not slip out of his remembrance ; and 
especiall}^ at prayer time, and other seasons when it ap- 
peared likely to be done with most effect. 

" We have been led to this course, partly by feeling, but 
it has accorded with our principles, as I will endeavour to 
explain. 

" The great and leading use of punishments (in the case 
of children at least) seems to be, to humble the mind at 
the time of a fault, and prepare it for repentance ; or, when 
inflicted after a fault, to impress the fault more on the mem- 
ory, that repentance for it may be more abiding : and in both 
cases, to deter from a repetition of the crime, through fear 
of a repetition of the suffering. Now though it has these 
uses, it has also evils attending it. The parent's temper is 
apt to be ruffled in inflicting it, and the child's to be soured 
and hardened in receiving it; and the fear of it is apt to lead 
to concealment and deceit in a child, and also apt to turn 
his eyes too much from God to man, and from the spiritual 
to the temporal consequences of crimes. ' Perfect love 
casteth out fear ;' and one would wish to lead a child 
towards that state as fast as may be, and to foster and 
cherish the love of Christ, as the great constrain mg princi- 
ple, in his bosom. Endeavours to this end will be not a 
16 



178 

little counteracted by a syste.m which draws his mind ha- 
bitually, on the commission of faults, to human punishments, 
" Viewing things in this light, we look on punishment 
as never to be employed in christian education, when it 
can be avoided ; and we think w^e have found, that, under 
the system I described in my last letter, for promoting 
true repentance in a child, it may he avoided with advan- 
tage in almost all cases, when, under that system, by the 
blessing of God, the mind is become ingenuous and the 
conscience tender. In cases of obstinacy, whether it takes 
the form of violence or sullenness ; if candour and kind- 
ness, and solemn but calm representations, and a counte- 
nance and manner in the parent th^ very reverse of that of 
the child, will not in some moderate time produce the de- 
sired effect on the child's mind (which they commonly will, 
after the system in question has been followed for some 
time in a family f) punishment must be employed : ' De- 
bellare superbos.'* But even in this case it should be 
sparing and moderate, and infxicted gradually, so as to give 
time to the child to recover itself from its fit of perverse- 
ness;and when its temper is altered and bends to the yoke, 
and gives place to contrition and docility, the punishment 
should cease. It is to the full as necessary, in a system 
under a God of love, the leading principles of which tliere- 
fore should be love and mercy, to bear in mind the former 
part of the poet's line ' Parcere subjectis,*! as the latter 
part, which i before quoted. Then is the time for winning 
the child, by holy kindness, tempered by that mild solem- 
nity which the occasion will inspire, to openness and can- 
dour, and a deep but not an agonising impression of the evil 
of sin, and of the love of Christ and his readiness to for- 

* To humble the proud. 
t To spare the submissive. 



179 
give. Consider how very ill a continuation of punishment 
would harmonise with the promotion of those fiiiai aspira- 
tions to God and the Redeemer. How would it operate 
in our own case ? And how much more likely would it be 
to operate ill in that of a child, who, from his tender years, 
is so much more liable to have his mind and feelings en- 
grossed by any thing which, like punishment, makes a 
strong impression on his outward senses ? 

"I have mentioned the eilect which the expectation 
of punishment is likely to have on a child's communica- 
tions with his parent. It may be worth while to enlai'ge a 
little on that point. I am sure vve agree in placing the 
highest value on an affectionate and confidential openness 
in children towards their parents. It is not only highly 
gratifying to the parents and the natural expression, and 
pledge, and nurse of filial esteem and love ; but it is most 
closely allied to the promotion of all that is honest and in- 
genuous in the child, and with the checking and subduing 
of all that is wrong, not in his habits, but in his disposition. 
I need not go into detail on these points. x\ll that I could 
say will present itself to your mind and feelings. I will 
merely draw your attention to two opposite pictures, 
which your own imagination will present to you in sufficient- 
ly vivid colours ; the one, of a child who feels his parents to 
be his bosom friends — his wise but tender and sympathising 
guides through thesnaresand delusions oflife; who, from feel- 
ings, as well as from a sense of duty, flies to them to dis- 
burthen his mind, both in his joy and in his sorrow ; who, in 
his intercourse with them, endeavours to follow in that chris- 
tian path in which they lead the way, to be of one heart 
and mind with them, and to 'keep the unity of the Spirit 
in the bond of peace,' as with all his fellow-christians, so 
emphatically with his first, best, and dearest friends, his 
parents. Contrast this sketch with what is too often the 



i8D 

scene even in religious families — distrust on the part of the 
parent; reserve, and perhaps alienation, on the part of the 
child, who, instead of sympathising (in the large sense of 
ihe word) with his parents, hankers after companions of a 
very different sort, and enjoys himself most when furthest 
from paternal observation. I have drawn these outlines 
strongly 5 but 1 am sure you must have observed different 
shades of these characters among your neighbours, as. you 
have passed through life, 

" To return to the main subject, from which I have rath- 
er diverged — After having described the course I should 
take in a case of obstinacy or passion at first, and repent- 
ance afterwardsj, you are prepared to hear, that, in a case 
Vvhich began with candour and repentance, I would by no 
means punish, except in the way of some restriction, which 
should be recommended rather by prudence as a precau- 
tion, than be of the nature of a punishment 5 or perhaps, 
by exacting some moderate sacrifice (such as staying in 
the house for some hours) for the purpose of preventing the 
mind's too soon exchanging salutary impressions for youth- 
ful levity. But whatever I might do in this way, I would 
take special care to avoid every thing austere and forbid- 
di?.g in my' countenance and manner, though these would 
necessarily be marked by serious but tender and affection- 
ate pity and concern. I think 1 find that this course of 
proceeding answers the purpose of preventing the aftair 
from sliding too soon out of a child's mind, while it secures 
his affections, disposes him to confide in me as a friend 
and confidant, and adds to his fear of having offended God, 
a further uneasiness, from having brought much trouble 
on me and himself Though I iiave spoken of myself, I 
have my wife full as much in my eye while I give this des- 
cription. Occasions are often occurring, in which the lit- 
tle children come to her with full hearts to tell her of some 



181 

misbehaviour or wrong temper. They come without fear, 
but with a load of concern and regret, which they evident- 
ly hope to lighten by obtaining her sympathy and condo- 
lence. You may be sure she always encourages this course 
of preceeding; and I am convinced that, under God's 
blessing, it answers the very best of purposes. I need not 
say, that, in the way in which she treats such cases, it is 
her aim always to give the feelings of the Christian a com- 
plete ascendancy over those of the mother; and I think 
she succeeds well. But, after all, will children dread the 
commission of faults and guard against them, unless they 
stand in awe of some immediate punishment ? I think 
they will, and on the same grounds on which men and wo- 
men do, provided our whole system, or some other founded 
on similar principles, be adopted early, and steadily pur- 
sued. It is thought absurd for adults to subject themselves 
to penances for their sins; and why should it not be right 
to subject children to as little of this sort as may be, and 
to endeavour, as early as may be, to bring them to a sys- 
tem analogous to tliat which we Protestants think the 
right one for grown-up people ? Their minds are capable 
of being wrought upon by the same means which God has 
appointed for men in general ; and these means cannot be 
too early employed, and cannot too soon acquire that pre- 
ponderance in a system of education which may make them 
supersede the use of the rod : a weapon necessary, in a 
degree, for managinj^ brute animals, and man also, so far 
as his nature resembles theirs ; but it is the great business 
of Christian education to exalt his nature — to cherish that 
new nature implanted by grace in his soul, and as speedily 
as possiijle to subject him to a discipline suited to the state 
of heart we wish to encourage. 

" Do not suppose, though we endeavour to banish pun- 
ishment as much as may be, that our system is one of in- 
16# 



182 

dulgence. It is a main part of it to establish habits of res- 
olute, though cheerful, self-denial in all points in which 
duty calls for sacrifices. We always hold up the principle 
of acting on grounds of right and wrong, and not on those 
of inclination, except in points purely indifferent, which 
are brought within a narrow compass. Nothing is ever 
granted to mere intreaty ; and we have none of that beg- 
ging and whining which shows generally a laxity of princi- 
ple, and always a defective system of education, wherever 
it is practised. 

'' In this way we endeavour to promote, in our own 
children, that 'hardness- which all the soldiers of Christ 
must learn to endure. But, then, this plan is sweetened 
by as much affection, affability, cheerfulness, and desire 
to make our children happy within the bounds of duty, 
as we can pour into it, consistently with the great truth 
which is often inculcated, that neither man nor child must 
live for pleasure, but that his object and employment must 
be work — the work which God has given him to do ; and 
a considerable part of which (especially in the case of 
a child) is to prepare for doing better work in future 
years. 

" As to the passages of Scripture which you mention, 
I own they do not alter my view of this case. It is most 
true, that ' the rod must not be spared' in the cases in 
which it ought to be used ; but then comes the question I 
have been discussing in this letter. What are those cases ? 
Indeed, the frequency and general complexion of the pas- 
, sages to which you refer, would lead one to suppose that 
Solomon conceived that cases of this kind would he very 
common; ai.d, in short, that corporal punishment would 
be a leading feature in a right education. But it is to be 
remembered under what dispensation he lived— under one 
which was comparatively low— one in which there was 



183 

much of beggarly element; much that was permitted be- 
cause of the hardness of the hearts of those who lived 
under it. Should we not expect that under such a dispen- 
sation, and for the use of such a people as the Jews, many 
things would be enjoined not well accommodated to our 
times ; and, in particular, that the approved system of 
education would partake less of what is (in a spiritual 
sense) refined and elevated, than ought to enter into * the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord,' under the blaze of 
the Gospel-light most graciously vouchsafed to us ? This 
general view might be illustrated and corroborated by 
many things in the New Testament. 

" May God bless us in all we do for our children ! The 
concluding lines of Cowper's Task may well be applied, in 
their spirit, to this subject of education. 

But all is in His hand whose praise 1 seek. 
In vain the poet sing's, and the world hears. 
If He regard not, tho' divine the theme. 
'Tis not in artful nr^easures, in the chime 
And idle tinkling of a minstrel's lyre. 
To charm His ear, wliose eye is on the heart ; 
Whose frown can disappoint the proudest strain. 
Whose approbation prosper even mine ! 

<^ I remain, dear Sir, 

^^ Yours very truly, &c/^ 



184 

No. IT. 

List of Texts referred to at page 83. 

Matt, iii 7—12 ; iv. 4, 7, 10 11 ; v. 2—12, 21—24, 38—48 ; vi ;* 
vii. 1—5, 7—29 i ix 11--13, 37, 38 j x 26—33, 37—42 ; xi. 20— 
26, 28—30 i xii 34—37, 43—50; xiii. 4—12, 18—23 ; xiv. 22, 23 ; 
XV. 21—28; xvu 24—28; xvii. 1—8; xviii 1—6, 10—14, 21— 
35; xix. 1.3—15; 23—30; xx. 25— 28 ; xxi, 28— 31 ; xiii. 2—14, 
34—40; xxiii. 8—12, 57—39; xxiv. 42—51 ; xxv ; xxvL 36—46 ; 
XX vii i 16 — 20. 

Mark, ii. 21, 22 ; vi. 45-^52 ; vii. 20—23 ; viii. 33—38 ; ix. 43 
—50 ; xi. 24—26 ; xii 41—44. 

Luke» i. 32, 33, 68—80 ; ii. 10- 14 ; 29—35 ; iii 10— 14 ; iv 16 
—"mouth" in 22; vu 36—50; ix. 28— 36 ; x. 21— 24, 38, from 
«e^nd"— 42; xii. 16—21, 32—34; 47,48; xiii. 24—29; xv, 11— 
32; xvi 10—13, 15, 19—31 ; xvii, I, .2, 17, 18; xviii 9—14 ; xix. 
41—44 ; XX. 46, 47 ; xxi. 34—36 ; xxii. 31, 32, 56—62 ; xxiii. 27, 
28, 34, 39—43, 46—48 

John, i. 1—14,47; iii. 1—3, 5, 6, 14—21 ; iv. 10, 13, 14, 23, 
24; V. 19—29, 44; ix 39—41; x. 11—18; xi. 28—36; xii. 42 
43 ; xiii. 1 >— 17, 34, 35 ; xiv. 1—3, 27 ; xv. ; xix. 26, 27; xxi. 15, 
—17. 

Acts, i. 11, from "ve" ii. 41—47; iv. 19, 20; vii. 54—60: ix. 
3-6; X. 1, 2, 34, 35 i xi 22, from "and"- 24; xiv. 15—17; 
xvi 25—34; xvii. 22 from «ye"— 31 ; xx. 17—38; xxxi. 24—49 : 
xxviii- 26 27« 

Rom. i.'i6; ii. 28, 29 ; vi. 1—14 ; xi. 33—36 ; xii ; xv. 1—6, 13 ; 
xvi. '25-^-^7 

1 Cor. i. 17-31 ; ii. 2—5, 12—14 ; iii. 18—20 ; x.l2— 13, 31— 
33 ; xi. 1 ; xiii 1--7. 

2 Cor. iv. 16—18 ; v ; x 4, 5 ; xii 7—10. 
Gal. V 19—26 ; vi. 1—5, 7—9, 14—16. 

Eph i. 15—23 ; ii. 1—10 ; iii. 14—21 ; iv. 1—6, 17—32; v. 1— 
12; vi. 10*' spirit" in 18. 

Phil. i. P— 1 1 : ii. 1 ~18 ; iii. 7—16 ; iv. 4—9, 11—13. 

Colos. i. 9—23 ; iii. 1—17. 

1 Thess. ii. 1—12 ; iii. 7—13 ; iv. 1. to "sanctification" in 3 with 
g'irls, and to 8 with boys. 

1 Tim vi, 6—16. 

2 Tim, i. 7—12 ; ii- 11—13 ; iii, 14-17 ; iv. 6—3. 
Tit ii 3—5,11—15; iii- 1—8. 

Heb. i. ii. iv 12- 16; xii. 1—14 ; xiii. 20, 21. 
Jam i 2—8, 13, 14, 26, 27 ; iii. 17 ; iv. 1—4, 6—8, 13—16; Vc 
10, 11, 16. 

1 Pet. i ; ii. 1—3, 18—25 ; iii. 1—4, 7—16 v. 5—11. 

2 Pet i 5—8 

1 John, i. 3— 10; ii. 1-6, 9— n, 15—17 ; iii. 1—3, 14—18, 23, 
24; iv 7—11, 16—21 ; v. 3—5, 14, 15. 

Jude, 20, 21, 24, 25. 

Rev i. 4—8 ; ii. 2—" churches" in 11 ; iii. 1—11, 14, 22 ; v. 9, 
from "for" 14; vi. 12—17; vii. 9—17; xi. 15—18; xv. 1— 4 ; xix. 
5—16; XX. 11—15 ; xxi. 3—8, 27; xxii. 12—17. 



185 



£xtract of an original letter written by a Lady of Boston to her friend. 

" When I returned from your house last week, I felt 
disposed to call myself to account for the freedom with 
wjkich I had spoken on the necessity of icstraining those 
infant passions which weie then disturbing your peace, 
and to fear that I have ofiended you, or at kast made you 
think me very opinionated and presuming. 1 have seen 
you since, and the kindness of your uianner banished 
the fear of your anger, and has even encouraged me to put 
your candour and patience to a still severer trial. It is 
vain to apologize ; believe (if you can) that no confidence 
in my own wisdom, no love of dictating to others, influ- 
ences me to write. Mingled with esteem, my heart is 
full of gratitude and love towards you ; most willingly 
would I show it, Dy striving, according to my humble abili- 
ty, to promote your true happiness. I have often observ- 
ed, with a feeling of acute pain, that the fondness of your 
maternal affection is leading you into errors, which 1 fear 
you ate not sufficiently aware of. Your lovely and prom- 
ising child is an object of delight to all who know her ; 
but, my dear friend, you already find that with the gold 
is mingled a base allui/. Let not the word oft'end you— 
the knowledge of the disease is more than half the remedy. 
Sentimentalists may talk of the charms of infant innocence, 
and philosophers rave of the dignity of human nature; but 
you and I are christians, and are not bound to form our 
opinions and regulate our practice by any other standard. 
The infallible word of God teaches us, that the human 
heart is corrupt, and rebellious, and prone to evil, as the 
sparks fly upward. These truths, we readily believe, and 
I hope deeply feel 5 but, with regard to our children, do 
we not act as if we doubted their leality ? — shut our eyes 
to the inference, hoping that the violence is transient, or 



186 

the selfishness accidental ; or that reason, as it acquires 
strength, will correct all that is amiss? But we forget 
that the taint is not acquired, but inherent ; that it ope- 
rates to pervert the understanding, as well as to corrupt 
the hearty and that reason, when it arrives at the maturity 
of its strength, and is cultivated to its utmost perfection, 
is (unaided by divine grace) but a slave in bondage to the 
passions. Though you may not perhaps have viewed the 
subject in so string a light, 1 believe you will acquiesce in 
the truth of these things ; and it is not so much in the error 
of judgment that your danger lies, as in want of resolu- 
tion to subdue the pleadings ot maternal fondness, and 
look with a steady eye to the real good and welfare, the 
final happiness of your child. In this, as in every other 
part of our christian warfare, we should apply to Him, 
whose grace is sufficient for us, and who will undoubtedly 
bless our humble and zealous endeavours to bring our 
children up for him. Self-will is the Hydra you have to 
combat ; it must be watched in all its doublings and pur- 
sued to all its winding places 5 it will show itself in as 
many forms as the fabled Proteus-^-but maternal vigilance 
will detect it in all, and if you suffer yourself to be baffled 
in one instance, you only prepare for yourself new con- 
flicts. Let not tliis discourage you ; make the experiment, 
and you will find how soon the violence that is met by 
firmness will subside. If you are really determined, se- 
verity will soon become unriecessary, for I never yet saw 
the child who could not read her mother's resolution in her eye. 
Will you trust my experience for the fact, that until you 
have attained a complete ascendancy over your child's 
spirit, it is in vain to expect improvement even in knowl- 
edge. No solid acquirements can be made without steady 
attention and laborious efforts, and no child is capable of 
such attention or such efforts* who has not been inured to 



187 

habits of self-control by early submission to legitimate au- 
thority. The bright intelligence of your dear little girl is 
all in your favour; she will soon see the motive of your 
conduct, and repay with tenfold affection every effort you 
make for her good ; she will ffcl^ that by subduing her 
temper you increase her happi ess. I have just read in 
* Scott's Essays' the following sentence, to which I give my 
hearty assent ' The more any one studies human nature 
and repeats the actual experiment, the fuller will be his 
conviction, that all attempts to educate children without 
correction, and to treat them as rational and independent 
agents, before they are able to use their reason or liberty, 
arise from forgetfulness of their innate depravity, and will 
ultimately fail.' 

" The great Dr. Johnson has left it as his opinion, that 
'personal chastisement^ by the hand of a judicious parent, 
is preferable to any other mode of punishment — produces 
the desired end with less suffering to the child, and ena- 
bles the parent better to decide the exact moment when 
passion has exploded and penitence begins.' And after 
all, what is it that your sensitive hearts shrinks from ? 
surely the blows that your hand inflicts will never injure 
your child in life or limbs, and believe me, a sound whip- 
ping, judiciously administered, will often save her hours 
if fretting and floods of tears. Besides, whenever you 
suffer disobedience or perverseness to go unpunished, 
you counteract the effects of your own instruction; you 
teach your child that i\\Q all-seeing eye is ever upon her, 
that all her childish faults are known to him, and that he 
is angry with the wicked every day. Now the only spe- 
cies of wickedness, with which she is acquainted, is diso- 
bedience; she has frequently made the experiment, and 
escaped with impunity; and depend upon it, she will 
draw the inference, if not in words, yet practically, that" 



188 

either he does not see, or will not punish. And the effect 
of this, in searing the conscience, must be obvious to you, 
as well as to me. 

<< I shall be grieved but not surprised, if you are a little 
offended at my presumption ; yet I am bound by every 
tie of friendship to risk something, when the object is your 
happiness.'' 



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S. Greene ; Providence, John Brewer ; JV. York, Collins & Co.; 
Albany, D. Steel ; Utica, W. Williams. 

ANCIENT AND MODERN ATLAS, containing The TVorld, 
Europe, Asia, Africa, JVorth America, United States, South A-u^^ 
17, 



11 

City and The British Islands, which are modern ;— 77;^ fVorui,a^i 
kno-cun to the Ancients , The Roman Empire^ Gaiil, Spain, Italy ^ 
Greece, Africa, Egypt, Asia Minor, The Places recorded in the 
Jive books of Moses ^ Palestine or the Holy Laiid, Syria and As* 
Syria, The Persian Empire. 

CUxMMINGS' TESTAMENT, containing an Introduction, 
5'iving a.n account of the Jewish and other sects, either mentioned 
or alluded to in the New Testament ; with Aotes, ilhistrating 
obscure passages, and explaining obsolete ivords and phrases ; to 
wliich are added, Rnles for pronouncing Scripture Proper JVames; 
a Catalogue of the Proper JVames in theTestament, correctly- 
accented according to Walker; and four Maps of the countries 
through which our Saviour and liis Apostles travelled ; — for the 
use of schools, academies, and private families. 

FIRST LESSONS in Geography and Astronomy, with seven 
maps and a pla<^e of the Solar System, for the use of young chil- 
dren. By J. A, CUMMTNGS, 

VALPY'S GREEK GRAMMAR, with Notes, an Explanation 
of Grammatical Terms, and a Synopsis of Parsing, designed 
early to initiate the learner into a correct and regular mode of 
parsing each word, without constant application to the instruc- 
ter for direction. 

Upon an exajninatinn in this Grammnr, scholars are admitted 
into Harvard College in Cambridge. 

DELECTUS SENTENTIARUM GR^CARUM, for the use 
of beginners, with Notes and a Lexicon, by R. Valpy. This 
work is designed to render the Introduction to the Greek lan- 
guage as easy as possible, and to assist beginners ; and it is un- 
questionably the best book of the kind hitherto published. 

iESOP^S FABLES IN GREEK, v/ith Notes. First Ameri- 
can edition. 

N. B. Tlie Greek Delectus and Fables ought always to be 
studied before the Greek Testament. 

COLLECTANEA GRJECA MINORA, with Notes, a Lexicon, 
snd an Index, for tlie use of learners in preparing for college. 

COLLECTANEA GRiECA MAJOR A, with Notes, a.«d an 
Appendix. This is used in most of the colleges in this country. 

GRIESBACH'S GREEK TESTAMENT. First American 
edition. 

TPIE LATIN TUTOR, or an Introduction to the making of 
Latin, ccntaining a copious exemplification of the rules of ihc 
Latin syntax from the best authorities ; accommodated to Adam's 
Grammar, and Smitl)'s N. H, L. Grammar. Also rules for 
adapting the English to the Latin idiom. The use of the parti- 
cles exemplified in English sentences, designed to be translated 
into Latin ; with rules for the position of words in Litin compo- 

sition. X ^, 

AN INTRODUCTION TO ALCiEBRA, containing the Ma- 
thematicks, which will he required for admission mto Harvard 

University. 



Ill 



CUMMINGS & BILLIARD 

Have also constantly on hand the best assortment of 
works on Divinitij^ Medicine^ and Law ; a variety of 
Latin and Greek classics^ new and second hand / 
ivorks of Taste ; all kinds of School books ; books 
of Devotion and Piety ; Children's books, Sfc. among 
which are the fallowing , viz. 



Hall's Sermons. 

Taley's Work«. 

Faber on the Prophecies. 

Faber on the Restoration of Is- 
rael. 

Smith on the Prophecies. 

Hannah More*s Works. 

Goldsmith's History of England. 

Wakefield's Botany. 

Bouge's Essays. 

Foster's Essays . 

Faber on the Holy Spirit. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

Doddridge's Rise and Progress. 

Baxter's Saint's Rest. 

Baxter's Miscellanies. 

Grove on the Lord's Supper- 

Lathrop on Christian Baptism 

Christ's Warning to the 
Churches. 

Pretlyman's Study of the Bible 

Village Sermons. 

Jenks' Devotion 

Law's Serious Call. . 

Knox's Christian Philosophy. 

Rose and Emily. 

Parents* Assistant.* 

Management of the Tongue. 

Sco\igal's Life of God in the 
Soul of M^n. 

Merrivale's Devotion. 

Scott's Force of Truth. 

Locke's Essays. 

Bigelow's Plants of Boston* 

Adams' Lectures on Rhetoric 

Alison on Taste 

Walkei^'s Rhetorical Grammar 

Evans' Sermons 

Wilson's Sacra Privata 



Wellbeloved's Devotional Ex- 
ercises.. 

Xew Testament with Notes and 
Maps 

Geography of New Testament 
with Maps 

Lowth's English Gran^mar 

Evening's at Home 

Mrs. Edgeworth*s Early Les* 
sons 

Rational Sports 

Horace in London 

Junius' Letters 

Dish op Watson's Address to 
Youth 

Channing's Sermon on the Du- 
ties of Children 

Byron's Poetical Works compl. 

A few weeks in Paris during 
the residence of the allied 
sovereigns, &c. &c. 

JLatin Classics- 
Ainsworth's Dictionary. 
Entick's Do. 

Adam's Latin Grammar 
Bigelow's Abridgment of Do. 
Chever's Accidence 
Latin Tutor 

Bigelow's Introduction to Mak- 
ing Latin 
Clarke's Do. 
Corderius 
Historise Sacrae 
Narraticnes Excerptse 
Eutropius 
Erasmus 
Nepos 
Livy 
Excerpta Latina 



IV 



Selecta k Profanls 

Wilson's Sallust 

Cicero's Orations 

Grotius de Veritate 

Caesar's Commentaries 

Virgil 

Horace, &c. &c. 

Greek Classics, 
Grieca Majora 
Graeca Minora 
Valpy's Delectus 
Valpy's Greek Grammar 
Gloucester Do. 
Smith's Do. 

Moor's Do. 

Jones* Do. 

Portroyal Do. 
Schrevellus' Lexicon 
^sop's Fables in Greek 
Greek Testament 
Xenophon 
Homer 
Longinus 

Nellson's Greek Exercises 
Huntingford's Do. 

Keeves on Domestic Relations, 
Cranch's Reports of Cases ar- 
gued and adjudged in the Su- 
preme Court of the United 
States 

7th, 8th, and 9th vols. 

separately 
Oliver's Practical Conveyancer 
Massachusetts Perpetual Laws 
Massachusetts Special Laws 
Massachusetts Reports 
Bacon's Abridgment 
Peak's Law of Evidences 
Gray don's Digest 
Blackstone's Commentaries 
Toller's Law of Executors 
East's Reports 
Chitty's Law of Nations 
Sugden on Vendors 



Montague on set off 
Sinny's Reports 
Coope'rs Justinian 
Powell on Contracts 
Powell's Powers 

— Mortgages 

Cooke's Bankrupt Law 
Taunton's Reports 
Cambell's Reports 
Sheppard's Touchstone 
Coke's Institutes 

New Jersey Reports 
New York Justice 
Freeman's Town officer 

Justice's Assistant 



Law's Pleading, with. Storyfs 
Notes 

Constitutions of the U. S« 

Robinson's Reports 

Fearn on Remainders 

Hale's Common Law 

Livermore on Agents 

Anesly on Insurance 

Jones on Bailments 

Revenue Law 

Spirit of Laws 

Builer's Nisi Prius 

Sullivan's Lectures 

Jacob's Law Dictionary 

Espinasse's Reports 
" Nisi Prius 

Bosanquet and Puller's Reports 

Digest of Term Reports 

Study of the Law 

Lilly's Entries 

Dickenson's Digest 

VatteVs Law of Hations 

White's Digest 

Dallas' Reports. 

Impey's Practice 

Gilbert's Law of Evidence 

American Precedents 

Swift's Evidence 

Powell on Devises 

Robert's Fraudulent Convey- 
ances 

Bradby on Distresses 



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